Lelouch of the Wings of Rebellion
by MagusZero
Summary: In an alternate world without Geass, Lelouch awakens to another power from the collective consciousness - Persona. Leading a band of phantom thieves through the Metaverse, he seeks to topple the Britannian regime, stealing one corrupt heart at a time. Featuring the cast and setting of Code Geass, put into Persona 5's overarching scenario.
1. Interrogation

This story is a work of fanfiction. Similarities between characters or events to persons living or dead in your world are purely coincidental. Code Geass and Persona 5 belong to their respective owners. Only those who have agreed to the above have the privilege of partaking in this story.

xXx

The world is distorted. Ragnarok is imminent.

Yet there are those in the world who desire change.

Though they lack the Power of the King, they challenge fate.

Those who do so are sometimes referred to as Tricksters.

Rise up, Trickster.

A new destiny lies before you.

Confront the abyss of distortion, and stop Ragnarok.

xXx

The boy came to in a dimly lit room, his vision swimming, and his body aching all over. Memories of happier times flashed through his mind, but most were so jumbled, he could hardly make sense of them. He could clearly recall his taking care of his sister, back at Ashford Academy… that was clear at least. There were others who he saw, but their features were blurred. He tried to bring them into focus too, but all he earned for the trouble was a headache that got worse the harder he tried.

But there was another question at hand: where was he?

"He's awake," said a voice. "Looks like you used too much Refrain on him."

He tried to move, but he found he was restrained by a straitjacket. Even this feeble effort felt exhausting to him, and he felt his consciousness slipping away once again.

The men splashed a bucket of icy cold water over him.

"No dozing off!"

He blinked, a measure of strength and alertness returning to him. Then men were Britannian intelligence officers! He had been captured! Where was Nunnally, and…

"Let me go!" With renewed vigor, he began fighting against his bonds, but physical strength had never been his forte, so his effort was futile from the start.

"And why would we do that? You've got yourself quite a record," one of them said, reading from a clipboard. "Obstruction of justice, possession of weapons, defamation, blackmail, murder, terrorism, sedition, and treason. "It's hard to think that a Britannian schoolboy could be the mastermind behind all of those crimes, yet you were enjoying every second of it."

That jogged his memories a bit. There had been a thrill of rebellion in his earlier drug-induced flashbacks… the charges certainly sounded like something he would do if he had the power to fight back against Britannia. But the specifics still eluded him. Had he really done all of those things?

"You'll sign this confession," the officer said, freeing one of his hands, and handing him a pen and the clipboard.

The boy put the pen down. "I don't think so."

He received a vicious kick in the leg from the officer, knocking him from his chair.

"What makes you think you have any rights, terrorist?" the officer yelled at him. "Look where you are!. No one is going to help you. Your friends abandoned you! One of them even sold you out! So we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. But you will sign that confession, and no one is going to care if we have to break a few bones to make that happen."

The boy grimaced. It seemed he didn't have a choice, not if he wanted to live long enough to find a way out of captivity. There was no point in putting a false name on the confession either; the Viceroy would know who he was.

Lelouch vi Britannia.

"vi Britannia…. Yes… the Eleventh Prince, killed during the invasion of Japan. I must admit, I was surprised. But do you know what that means, schoolboy? As far as the public is concerned, you do not exist. The penalty for your crimes is of course execution, but since you are already dead, I wonder if our emperor will find another use for you."

The officers left, laughing, and left Lelouch alone in the soundproofed room.

Lelouch didn't know how much time had passed, but soon the door opened once again, and someone entered, one of his half-sisters, Cornelia li Britannia.

"To think you were Zero all along, Lelouch," she said contemptuously. "It's hardly the reunion I hoped for."

He stared back at her in silence.

"Say something!" Cornelia demanded. "Where is Nunnally? Did you get Euphemia involved in this? And why would you sink to becoming a thief? Do you hate us that much?"

Cornelia's eyes flicked to the ground. "So they used Refrain," she said distastefully. Her eyes returned to Lelouch, her words more forceful now. "Listen, Lelouch! Unless you cooperate to the fullest, there's nothing that I will be able to do to help you. I may be the Viceroy, but this is out of my hands. Do you understand the gravity of what you've done?"

"Of course. I rebelled, didn't I? But can you say the same, Cornelia?"

Anger flashed across Cornelia's features. "You will address me as Viceroy. But it seems you're lucid at least." She took a seat across from him. "Let's start from the beginning, Lelouch. Or should I call you Zero? Over the last six months, you led a terrorist group that called themselves the Black Knights. They targeted several high-profile individuals in the Tokyo Settlement, and last month caused a major international incident. The official story is that you blackmailed your victims. But that doesn't add up. They really did have changes of heart, didn't they? And then there are all of those other incidents…. As Viceroy, maintaining order in Area 11 is my responsibility, and I'm sure you have valuable information. So how did you do it? Answer me!"

In spite of his earlier bravado, Lelouch couldn't answer that question right now. His recollections were still too foggy, so he didn't know what to tell Cornelia, whether it be the truth or a convincing lie. But then, a shining blue butterfly seemed to flutter before Lelouch's eyes, though Cornelia clearly could not see it. Was it another hallucination from the Refrain?

"Hmmm… it seems your luck has just about run out," an oddly familiar female voice said into his mind. "Like me, you are shackled to an unjust fate. Your chances of winning this game are nearly none, for you have been in check from the start. But if you can still hear my voice, you may yet find a way. Remember our contract, and the bonds you forged, and you may yet claim victory from the jaws of defeat. And when this is all over, you had better get me a pizza."

That was right…. His thoughts were getting clearer now…. At last, he could remember.

"I'll tell you," he said, meeting Cornelia's gaze once again. "It's been nearly eight years since we last talked like this, but as you said, it really began six months ago…"

 **A/N: One day, I was struck by how similar P5's Joker and Lelouch were. They are both black-haired, criminal vigilantes who obtain a supernatural power somehow related to the collective consciousness, rebel against their societies with the goal of making a better world, have quirky friends and a number of potential love interests, and in Japan they are both voiced by Jun Fukuyama. From that idea, this story was born, casting Lelouch into Joker's role, and his friends and allies as phantom thieves or confidants.**

 **I have started very similarly to Persona 5 in this first chapter, and the plot will progress roughly in parallel to the game as well, as I realized that a number of Code Geass antagonists paralleled the targets in P5. That said, the casts of Code Geass and Persona 5 have distinct characterizations, even with parallels as close as Joker and Lelouch, which will present different relationship dynamics and subtly alter events as the story goes, such as causing the Palaces to manifest differently than their original P5 counterparts, (mostly) different Personas for the supporting thieves, and some other twists that I won't spoil here.**

 **Edit: I had noticed that I previously had some inconsistencies between eight and seven years through the story. Conferring with one of my reviewer in a PM, they told me this: "According to the novelization, Lelouch and Nunnally arrived to Japan in September, 2009. They were born in December 5, 1999 and October 25, 2002 - making them nine and just short of seven year old at the time, respectively." I have seen other sources claim that Lelouch was about 10 when he was exiled, which would place it a few months later. However, the Invasion of Japan canonically occurred on August 10, 2010. That places the invasion itself a bit more than seven years before the events of the interrogation, and between seven to eight years between the story and Lelouch's exile. I will be going through what I have already written and make sure to bring the stated years into line with this.**


	2. The Day a Phantom Thief Was Born

"I have no use for that weakling! That is what it means to be royalty! You are dead, because to me you have never existed, yet you dare to speak to me in that way!"

Lelouch clenched his fist at the memory. It had been over seven years since he had been exiled with his little sister Nunnally to Japan, now called Area 11, for daring to demand answers from his father after the assassination of their mother, the Empress Marianne, at the Aries Villa. For a time, they had lived at the Kururugi Shrine, but then the Britannian military had invaded Japan for its sakuradite reserves a year later, proving that their father didn't care if they lived or died. As far as Britannia was concerned, the former Eleventh Prince Wandering across the war-torn landscape, they had eventually found refuge with the Ashford family, allies of their late mother, who were building a school, Ashford Academy, in the new Tokyo Settlement that Britannia had erected upon the ruins of the old Tokyo.

There, he had adopted the alias of Lelouch Lamperouge, and had blended into an ordinary life at the Academy, fashioning the mask of the easy-going, brilliant but lazy student council vice president, who had relieved his boredom through gambling at high-stakes chess matches. He had some friends on the Student Council, but most were unaware of his true identity. And while he had sworn to destroy Britannia in the aftermath of the invasion, he lacked the power to do so, and so he kept his head down, for it was more important to keep Nunnnally safe. If they were discovered, they could be used as political pawns once again. As for the future, his prospects were dim. He would never willingly join nor be fit for the Britannian army, and he had little interest in working for a corporation and becoming just another cog in the machine.

Ashford Academy had a beautiful campus, and the Ashford family had even given them a well-apportioned residence in the clubhouse, along with the services of their maid, Sayoko, who was a great help for looking after Nunnally when he was away at class or gambling. But it was also his prison, a gilded cage, and as of late it had begun to turn into an oppressive place…

He was distracted as he saw a blue butterfly fluttering in the garden nearby. For some reason, it reminded him of a very strange dream he had the night before….

He had seemingly awoken on a hard bed, finding himself in a room with walls lined in blue velvet, an ethereal melody, haunting yet beautiful, echoing through the chamber. Looking around, he saw iron bars before him, blocking the way into a larger chamber…. No… locking him in! A prison cell!

As he leapt to his feet and reached out to the grab the bars, he saw the white sleeves of a straitjacket on his arms. It couldn't be real - he didn't remember being captured? The fog filling the bottom of the chamber beyond, which strangely had a faint blue glow, much like the rest of his surroundings, only added to the scene's dreamlike quality. But the cold bars beneath his fingertips seemed tangible in a way that dreams were not. Uselessly, he shook on the bars, but they held firm.

"It seems the prisoner has awakened," a female voice voice said. A moment later, a girl stepped into view. She appeared to be about his age, with green hair that fell to her waist and golden eyes. She was dressed in a blue uniform that marked her as one of the prison's wardens.

"Can I see him?", a slightly higher voice said excitedly. A smaller girl bobbed over, with the same golden eyes and unusual hair color, though her hair only reached her shoulders. She couldn't have been older than ten, yet she was also dressed as a warden.

"Who are you people? Why are you imprisoning me here? Let me out!" Lelouch demanded.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" the smaller girl cried. "Please, don't hurt me, Mr. Inmate!"

"Hmph!" The older girl took out an electrified baton and slammed it against the bars Lelouch was holding, giving him a painful shock. "I hate men who make little girls cry."

"I see my attendants have given you a warm greeting," a deep voice said from behind the two girls. "Trickster, welcome to my Velvet Room."

Peering through the bars, Lelouch saw the most bizarre-looking man that he had ever seen — a man with pointed ears, bulging, bloodshot eyes, and an absurdly long nose. The man was dressed in an immaculate suit, and his spindly fingers were covered by white gloves, but this only seemed to make his appearance even stranger.

"This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," the long-nosed man continued. "It is a room that only those bound by a contract may enter freely. You shall find yourself in such a contract before long."

"What contract?"

"My name is Igor," the man said, ignoring him. "I am the master of this place. We have much to discuss, Trickster."

"You haven't answered my question!"

"I shall elaborate upon that later," Igor replied, raising his hand dismissively, "for our time is short."

"You are fast asleep in the real world," the older girl explained, giving him a nasty look, while the younger girl still cowered before him. "You are experiencing this only as a dream."

"Ah, pardon me for not introducing the others," Igor said. "Shi, stand up!"

"M-my apologies, Master," the younger girl stammered as she scrambled to her feet.

"The older girl is Tsu," Igor continued. They are your wardens here, and with me shall observe your rehabilitation."

"Rehabilitation?" Lelouch asked suspiciously.

"This place reflects your heart. For it to appear as a prison means that you see yourself as a prisoner of fate. How curious. But it is not simply your own rehabilitation toward freedom that I must oversee. Ragnarok - what you might call ruin, rapidly approaches, driven on by the world's distortions. Only a Trickster might stop it. Do you have the resolve to do so?"

The world was distorted, that was true. One could plainly see that by how ruthlessly Britannia preyed upon the weak. But Ragnarok? And a prisoner of fate? He had never-

"What are you talking about?" Lelouch asked.

"You did not decline outright," Igor mused, continuing to ignore him. "That at least is a start." A prison bell rang. "But it appears that our time tonight is up."

"You must return to sleep, Inmate, so that you may awaken back in the real world," Tsu said, glaring at him. "Now are you going to cooperate..." She raised her baton again, and her lips formed a smirk. "Or would you prefer to be put out cold?"

The words were softly spoken, even with a mischievous touch to them. She was daring him to talk back with those golden eyes of hers. She was still mad at him for frightening her younger sister. He hadn't liked the idea of being gawked at while he was behind bars, but he hadn't meant to startle the small girl so badly. But he doubted that the older warden would care for any justifications that he might offer. It would just give her an excuse to strike with her baton again.

Still, something about Tsu made him sense that she was far more than she seemed, even without the baton. Against an unknown opponent, caution would carry the day, especially if she was anything more than just a figment of his imagination.

"I'll do it myself," he said coldly.

"Good. It seems that you're a quick learner, Inmate," she replied.

Lelouch began to turn toward the hard prison bed.

"Think on what, I have said, Trickster," Igor's voice echoed behind him. "I shall summon you again at another time."

The Velvet Room began to to fade around Lelouch.

"See you later, Mr. Inmate!" Shi called.

"Enjoy your rest while you still can," Tsu muttered ominously.

Shaking his head, Lelouch returned to the present, back on the grounds of Ashford Academy. The Velvet Room, Igor, and the green-haired girls had all been just a dream, but at the same time more vivid than any he could recall having before. He shook his head. A psychologist would have a field day trying to analyze the dream. What neuroses or repressed memories would they claim to find? But of course, he wouldn't be telling anyone about it.

His phone buzzed. Flipping it open, Lelouch saw an unfamiliar app with an icon depicting a red eye on the screen, labeled "Metaverse Navigator." Where had it come from? Was it malware? In any case, he didn't trust the strange app, so he promptly deleted it. He would have to check his phone more thoroughly later, to make sure that it was really clean, but for now he had to head to class.

The campus, and the Tokyo Settlement as a whole, had been on edge lately. Besides intermittent terrorist activity from Japanese rebels, there had been a number of disturbing incidents on the news. Ordinary people had suffered from psychotic breakdowns, seemingly without warning, leading them to commit random acts of violence and sabotage. Just earlier in the week, one of the trains on the lines encircling the settlement had crashed when the engineer had refused to slow down while approaching a station, causing numerous injuries. And then there were the mental shutdowns. The victims would unexpectedly fall into a vegetative state, and would invariably die shortly thereafter. The Viceroy of Area 11, Prince Clovis, had promised thorough investigations into these incidents as well as stringent new security measures, which had somewhat reassured the Britannnian public living in Area 11, but meant more oppression of the Japanese, or 'Elevens' as they were called.

In response to this climate, an unofficial group calling itself the Student Self-Defense Force had formed at Ashford Academy, but Lelouch held a very dim view of them. The SSDF had taken on the task of overzealously enforcing the school rules, and its members held highly prejudicial views of the 'Elevens'. Racism, even among the student body, was hardly unusual, for most had grown up exposed to a constant stream of imperial propaganda and rarely strayed outside of the settlement, where their views might be challenged. But whereas the average Britannian was apathetic to the plight of the Japanese, the SSDF, like their Purist parents, thought that any Eleven influence was dangerous.

Thus far, the Student Council had been able to do relatively little to restrain the SSDF, except when members clearly broke the rules that they claimed to uphold. Openly opposing an organization like them, which supposedly represented patriotic Britannians, could prove costly, and the last thing the Ashford wanted was for its allegiance to be called into question and the unwanted attention that would bring to the Academy. It wasn't as if the Student Council was unanimous in its opinion either. Nina spoke supportively of the SSDF, saying they made her feel safer on campus, especially at night, when they held shifts to maintain a watch. A number of teachers praised the SSDF's initiative as well, and had joined a growing chorus of voices calling for it to be officially recognized and funded as a student-led disciplinary committee.

The SSDF was seemingly everywhere across campus, its members identified by the armbands they had fashioned for themselves, marching back and forth on their patrols, constantly looking for infractions to report. Since they had begun operating, there had been fewer of the wacky school events and festivals that Milly loved to organize, perhaps because she felt beleaguered with everything else going on, and few people felt in the mood to participate. Humiliating as some of these events could be, Lelouch privately missed them and the color they had brought to life at Ashford. It was harder to slip off campus too these days without running into a SSDF member, who would deliver a typical stern speech about how, as a member of the Student Council, he should be setting a better example for the student body, as if he didn't already have Shirley on his case about that.

"Good morning, Lulu," a female voice said as if on cue, noticeably less chipper than it usually was. Looking up, he saw Shirley Fenette, a fellow Student Council member, and a member of the swim club. Her green eyes, usually so bright with energy, were downcast, and she sounded unusually tired.

"Is something wrong, Shirley?"

"Um… it's nothing. I'm all right," she said unconvincingly.

Lelouch's eyebrows furrowed. She was trying to hide something.

"You know that if there's something bothering you, the rest of us on the Student Council would always be happy to listen."

"No, really, I'm fine, Lulu. But thank you for your concern," she said, managing a weak smile.

He finally saw what wrong. Though they were mostly concealed by foundation, there were faint bruises marring her fair skin. As far as he knew, Shirley didn't usually use makeup, so they had to be pretty bad for her to resort to such measures.

"Shirley… did someone do this to you?"

"Do what, Lulu?"

"You're bruised."

"Oh, these?" She let out a nervous laugh. "You know how clumsy I can be sometimes be out of the water, Lulu. I just had a bad fall, that's all. Yeah… that's right! I just don't want the others to worry about me."

"Is that really true, Shirley?" He knew it wasn't. Unlike him, she had very little practice at lying. But he couldn't help her if he didn't know who was responsible for hurting her. Just the thought that she was being mistreated made him angry, in a far more visceral way than the injustices he saw Britannia perpetrate every day. He told himself it was because she was a fellow member of the Student Council.

"Oh, look at the time! Sorry, Lulu, I have to go! I'll be late to class! See you later!"

Shirley ran off, leaving him in a dark mood.

He would get to the bottom of this.

The first few classes of the day passed largely without incident. Lelouch found himself barely paying attention, especially during history class, which was more propaganda than anything, though he could still regurgitate the canned answer on a moment's notice when called upon. He was worried about his friends. He had to discretely speak to Milly about Shirley as soon as possible. Lunchtime would be ideal. And then there was his old friend, Suzaku, who had been having a rough time ever since transferring to Ashford Academy.

To say that Suzaku's arrival at the school had been a surprise was an understatement. While Suzaku had become an Honorary Britannian, and that theoretically entitled him to the same basic rights as most Britannian citizens, in practice Honorary Britannians were still discriminated against, and the tuition required to afford a private Britannian school like Ashford Academy was out of the reach of most. Suzaku clearly had a powerful patron further up the chain of command in the engineering division of the Brittanian army who was sponsoring his education.

But to have an Honorary Britannian at the school immediately drew the ire of the SSDF, who saw Suzaku as an intruder at Ashford Academy. As such they scrutinized his actions more closely than those of any other student, and always interpreting them in the worst possible light. Milly had made it clear that such bullying of a fellow student would not be tolerated, and had even privately invited Suzaku to join the Student Council, but Suzaku had been worried that it would only escalate the situation. The worst appeared to have stopped for now, but there were still vicious rumors circulating about Suzaku, and Lelouch suspected that even if the SSDF were to accost him, Suzaku wouldn't say anything about it.

The bell rang, and it was time for Lelouch to head to his least favorite class — gym. It was harder than ever for him to get out of it, and in turn that cut off much of the income he would have earned from gambling, but with things as they were, he had little choice in the matter.

Coach Villetta Nu was a very popular teacher on campus, mostly for the wrong reasons. It was a common opinion among male students that she was highly attractive, and a number of girls admired her for the confidence with which she carried herself and her no-nonsense attitude. But she also made little attempt to hide her bigoted views about anyone who wasn't a pureblooded Britannian. It was a fact that Lelouch found particularly ironic, as her dark skin made it clear that she was hardly pureblooded herself.

Villetta's temperament had gotten far worse when Suzaku arrived, and it was rumored that she had helped organize the SSDF in the first place. Frustrated by Suzaku's continued excellence in gym, which had earned him the respect of at least a few of the students, she had started forcing everyone else to strive even harder as well, determined that Britannians would not be surpassed by an Eleven. Lelouch for one thought that she was like a slave driver, though he had always had a lower tolerance for exercise than most.

As as he came around to the end of another lap, his lungs burning and his legs aching, he saw Coach Nu accosting a girl with short, straight red hair sitting on the sidelines, Kallen Stadtfeld, and he couldn't help but pause to eavesdrop on the exchange.

"Any young Britannian woman should be more than capable of doing a few laps," the Coach said to Kallen, scorn evident in her voice.

"I told you, I'm sick," Kallen replied, with a slight edge of annoyance in her voice that he had rarely heard from her. Usually, Kallen was a quiet, meek girl who tended not to voice strong opinions. But she was right to be irritated. She was supposed to be excused from strenuous activity like running laps on account of her weak constitution.

"Doesn't it shame you that an Eleven can do it, but you can't? As a noble, you are supposed to set an example for your lessers."

Lelouch scowled. With its social Darwinist ideology, Britannia had little tolerance for the sick and feeble. And if Kallen, a noble, was treated in that way, how would Coach Nu mistreat his sister, whose disabilities were more and outwardly pronounced, and was ostensibly a commoner?

"I wouldn't go talking to a noble that way if I were you," Lelouch said, deciding to speak up. "Her family might not be pleased to hear that a commoner would presume to lecture their daughter." While he generally hated Britannia's parasitic nobility, it was the one line of argument that he knew that Coach Nu would respond to, and Kallen didn't deserve Coach Nu's verbal abuse.

Coach Nu turned, anger crossing her features. She hated it whenever someone brought up her commoner status. "And you will learn not to speak to me in such a disrespectful manner, Lelouch! I'll see you in detention later. I'll have another two laps from you too." But she chose not to harass Kallen futher, and left to "encourage" other students.

Kallen looked at him for a moment, a curious mix of gratitude and contempt in her expression, before breaking eye contact, looking quite bored as she sat on the sidelines.

As Lelouch returned to finish his torturous laps, a thought occurred to him. Coach Nu supervised the Swim Club, which Shirley belonged to. Could she be the one responsible for Shirley's bruises? It could be possible, with the Coach's awful mood lately. But what reason would Coach Nu have to direct her wrath at Shirley? He couldn't bring such an accusation to Milly without some proof behind it.

Still, Coach Nu seemed to be acting with impunity lately in spite of her increasingly cruel behavior. If she was really the one behind the SSDF, then she had practically taken over Ashford Academy.

"Its like Coach Nu thinks she's some kind of Baroness, and Ashford Academy is her castle," he fumed to himself after class as he walked toward the Clubhouse, where he would hopefully find Milly.

There was a subtle shift in the atmosphere… and then Ashford Academy began to distort itself around him, imposing turreted walls appearing around the campus, while thorny hedges materialized alongside the path he was walking on. The sky turned an eerie, glowing red, and a tall building rose over the hedges behind him from where the gym had been, a rectangular edifice made of gleaming white stone, which seemed like a cross between the Britannian government bureau and a medieval castle.

"Impossible… Am I still dreaming?"

"Intruder on the grounds!" A voice suddenly called out, and a bright light shone upon him from a watchtower. At once, there was the sound of clanking footsteps running toward him, and before Lelouch could begin to formulate a plan, he had been surrounded by masked knights.

"That's him !" A member of the SSDF shouted, pointing at Lelouch. The knights nodded and unsheathed their swords, which looked awfully real. Yet the SSDF member didn't seem to notice how bizarre all of this was, a sort of lack in internal logic that made the experience seem even more surreal.

"The Baroness has authorized us to use deadly force if you resist," the nearest knight said as he advanced.

Lelouch knew there was no way he could overpower the knights, let alone escape them, so he swallowed his pride and raised his hands in surrender.

The knights roughly took hold of him, forcing a bag over his head so that he couldn't see, and then dragged him off. From how the air became cold and damp, he could only assume that he had been taken underground.

After some time, the bag was removed, and the knight behind him shoved him into a dingy cell before leaving. While the real Ashford Academy had a network of maintenance tunnels and sewers underneath it, Lelouch knew that it certainly did not have a dungeon. But what then was this place, if it was somehow more than a nightmare? Would that mean that his earlier dream with the Velvet Room had been real too? But there was no Igor here, infuriating as the strange man had been, to offer him any sort of explanation, nor the strange green-haired girls, even if the older one had managed to get under his skin.

He searched for a means to escape, but just as the Velvet Room had been, his current prison was secure. Digging his way to freedom was out of the question, for he couldn't even hope to budge the stones that made up the walls of the cell, and he wasn't so foolish to honestly think there would be a secret passage out of the dungeon like in some fantasy novels, though he thoroughly combed the cell anyway. But the conclusion remained that the only way in or out was through the now locked cell door.

"The Baroness has come to see you!" a knight announced as he came down the stairs. He was followed by another knight and an imperious figure, who could only be the Baroness herself.

It was none other than Coach Villetta Nu. Her silvery teal hair was styled as it always was, tied up and sheathed into purple fabric that held it to the side in strict ponytail, but instead of her gym outfit, she wore a military uniform, of an older baronial style. It was decorated with numerous medals and cut in a way that emphasized her curves, though Lelouch wouldn't permit that to distract him. Over it, she had a long, ermine cloak, far more extravagant looking than would be expected for one supposedly of the lowest hereditary noble rank, and a jeweled coronet upon her head, making her seem more like an empress. A whip was fastened to her side, but was hardly what made her seem most threatening.

While Villetta naturally had golden eyes, they now had a malevolent and distinctly supernatural glow to them.

"So, it's Lelouch. I should have expected that you would be one of those sneaking around my castle. You always try to shirk your duties as my subject, and then you dared to speak against me not an hour ago."

"You're a teacher! We're your students, not your subjects! Ashford Academy isn't your personal fiefdom!"

"But it is. I was entrusted with this castle. At first, I thought it was a dead-end assignment, but then a filthy Eleven breached the castle. Truth be told, I was hoping to find him here with you. I could then execute him for treason and daring to show himself here. But I guess I'll have to settle for seeing my other self expel him. No one will believe an Eleven, and I'll have plenty of students willing to testify against him."

"You're planning to frame Suzaku?"

She laughed. "If I can distinguish myself here and rid the castle of such a dangerous influence, then my lord will take notice! But if such filth slipped in so easily, then perhaps there are other traitors trying to hide here, let in by the castle's old owners. I'll root them out too. I'll be promoted for sure!"

A chill passed through Lelouch. "You're a Britannian spy!" How much did she know? Had she already discovered his true identity? Was Nunnally safe?

"That may be the profession of the me in the other world, but make no mistake, here I am this castle's ruler. Greatness lies before me!"

"So it's all about power… You stand for everything that's wrong with Britannia."

"Speaking against the Empire now too, Lelouch?" the Baroness said. "I had intended simply to discipline you… but there's only one punishment for traitors." She raised a hand. "Guards! Execute him!"

The guards drew their swords once again, light glinting off the deadly blades. Confronted with imminent death, Lelouch felt his heart freeze in his chest.

"You're not so brave now, I see," the Baroness sneered. "If only you had known your place."

"This can't be happening!" Lelouch thought frantically. "I'm about to die, without having done a single thing with my life. It's gone in a heartbeat! Nunnally!"

But then… that butterfly appeared again…

Time seemed to stand still as it landed upon his hand, and then Lelouch found himself swept away as a bizarre series of images flashed by him… a tunnel… falling through water… a sun appearing between two artificial spheres… a kaleidoscope of shimmering blue butterflies flying past him…

"You don't want it to end here, do you?" a female voice said from around him, young yet somehow seeming very old at the same time. It seemed to be a voice he had heard before. Jupiter appeared in the vision now, high in the sky and watching over countless streams of possibility.

"You appear to have a reason for living," she continued. "If I grant you the power to fight for your freedom, could you go on? I propose a deal. In exchange for this power, you will agree to make my wish come true."

Now Lelouch found himself among a field of stars, surrounded by countless masks, seemingly staring into his soul.

"Accept this contract, and you accept its conditions. While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other. A different time, a different providence, a different life."

He saw his father, standing amid a strange temple, surrounded by clouds.

"Distortions in the cognitive world….So Ragnarok begins once again?" the Brittanian Emperor's voice boomed.

Ragnarok… that was the ruin of which Igor had spoken in his dream, wasn't it? But Lelouch didn't really care about that. Seeing his hated father was all the motivation he needed…

"The Power of the Wild Card will condemn you to play an unjust game, where the odds have already been stacked against you. Are you prepared for this?"

How was that any different than things had always been? His enemy ruled an empire that controlled a third of the world. But if he had power, he could at least hope to fight against it.

"I accept the terms of your contract!"

"Then look inside your own heart, and let the wings of rebellion spread wide!"

Suddenly, Lelouch felt like he had been punched, and there was another voice, this time echoing from within his very soul. It was the voice of a demon.

"You recall the promise you once made, years ago. It was not a mistake then, was it?"

"No."

"Then I shall heed your resolve. You have made your contract with her. Now vow to me: I am thou, thou art I. Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon my name, and release thy rage!"

Lelouch screamed in agony.

"Show the strength of thy will all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!"

Lelouch found himself back in the cell, hunching over. As he looked up, he saw that the other Villetta was looking down upon him imperiously, her guards approaching for the kill.

He smirked.

"Tell me, Coach Nu. How should a Britannian who detests his own country lead his life?"

"That's a foolish question to ask, Lelouch. Such a traitor has no future."

The nearest guard swung his raised sword down in a lethal arc - but the blow never came. There was a sudden rush of wind, knocking the guards back. When the wind passed, Lelouch felt that there was something on his face.

What was this? Instinctively, his hands went on to feel the foreign object. A mask? But it felt as if it was welded onto his skin. There was an excruciating burning sensation, and the only thing he knew in that moment was that he had to get it off his face. Desperately gripping the mask, his fingernails dug into his skin, drawing blood, and with a sudden surge of strength, he ripped it off. Blood now covered his face, but a wicked grin spread across his face, for at last he had power.

"Arsene!" Lelouch shouted, declaring the name of his other self, long dormant within him.

Cool blue flames erupted around Lelouch, wrapping themselves around him, and from his own twisted grin emerged the burning orange smile of a demon. As the demon, a horned figure with a tall top hat, cravat, tuxedo, and red jacket rose on black wings, connected to Lelouch by ghostly chains, the flames spread out, revealing that Lelouch's Ashford Academy uniform had been transformed into a flowing, high-collared black trench coat over a stylish gray waistcoat with red gloves.

"Guards, show this rebel your true power, and kill him!" The Baroness ordered.

The knights burst open in showers of what looked like blood, and from them emerged a pair of small creatures. At a glance, they looked far less imposing than the knights they had pretended to be, vaguely comical even with their oversized pumpkin heads, but there was a demonic glint of malice in their eyes. Yet they seemed to hesitate before Arsene, still looming above Lelouch.

"Don't just stand there gawking!" The Baroness shouted.

Lelouch laughed. "Perhaps they've realized that the only ones who should kill… are the ones prepared to be killed!"

Lunging forward, faster than he could have ever done before, he took the dagger that had materialized in his hand and viciously slashed the nearest creature, which gave a piteous moan before dispersing into dark wisps.

"Yes! This power of mine is yours!" Arsene roared in exultatation. "Swing your blade! Channel your animosity and unleash it! Kill them however you want! Run wild to your heart's content!"

The other demon now moved to attack, and released a burst of flame. Lelouch had anticipated a counterattack, and deftly stepped to a side, though he should have expected that Villetta's demons would be able to use magic. After all… he had that power now too.

Following Arsene's instructions, Lelouch focused his hatred for Britannia into raw power. "Eiha!" He shouted, the name of the spell whispered into his mind, his hatred taking the form of cursed red tendrils that appeared beneath and struck Villetta's remaining demon. Wailing, the creature fell down, defenseless, and was promptly dispatched by Lelouch's follow-up attack.

"Impossible!" hissed the Baroness. "How can my guards be defeated so easily? Don't think-"

"That I can get away?" Lelouch smirked, as he rose, holding the prison key, left behind by the fallen guard. "How about a taste of your own medicine?" Darting past her, he threw the cell door closed behind him, locking it and tossing the key away. Instinct told him that he wouldn't be able to beat Villetta in a one-on-one fight, but at least he would be able to buy himself some time.

The Baroness yelled at him and for her guards to free her, but Lelouch didn't waste time lingering there. He would find his way out of this world, and then he would learn how to use this new power of his to destroy Britannia.

 **A/N: Hopefully you enjoyed the first chapter! While this first chapter treads rather closely to Persona 5, as more of the Code Geass' cast is introduced into the scenario, we will start seeing larger divergences.**

 **As is likely obvious to anyone who has played Persona 5, Villetta Nu has been set up in parallel to Kamoshida as the first arc's villain. However, her Deadly Sin is not the same as Kamoshida's, and that will continue to be reflected throughout her Palace. Admittedly, I have written Villetta as being more openly antagonistic than in canon, but given how ruthlessly she pursues her goals at the expense of other people, the distortion was already there. She is also not as well positioned at first in this story to achieve her goals as in canon, giving rise to further resentment and amplifying her distortion.**

 **The SSDF originates from the Code Geass manga. When I read about them, they were just what I needed to transform the usually upbeat Ashford Academy into an environment more reminiscent of Shujin Academy.**

 **I would elaborate more upon a certain scene in this chapter, but I will not do so here as to avoid certain spoilers for Persona 5.**

 **Lastly, as for Persona's, Lelouch will be the only character in the story who will have the same initial Persona as a Persona 5 cast member (Arsene). For reasons that will be discussed later, I believe Arsene is a very fitting Persona for Lelouch as well, and this is also in keeping with the initial inspiration for the story, of having Lelouch cast into Joker's role.**

 **Edit: Like Persona 5, this story starts in April, slightly earlier than Code Geass' canon story, which actually starts in mid-August, which places it between 7-7.5 years from when Lelouch was exiled, depending on which source you read, and six years and seven months from the invasion of Japan.**

 **Edit 2: I recently started playing Persona 5 Royal, refreshing parts of the early game in my mind, so I thought it was a good opportunity to revisit some of the earlier chapters and revise them to add some details. Nothing that significantly affects the plot, but just rounding out a few scenes and putting in some details that probably should have been there all along.**


	3. The Crimson Lotus Awakens

Lelouch made his way stealthily through the dungeons, guided by Arsene's expertise as a thief. If he had been told yesterday that he would find himself whisked away to another world with a distorted version of Ashford Academy, and that he would make deals with a mysterious voice and a demonic entity in exchange for magical powers, he would have thought the other person was crazy, or at least had a very overactive imagination. But this power felt all too real for it to simply be a dream. For too long, he had simply sleepwalked through life at Ashford Academy, but now he was more awake than he had been in years.

He found it curious, yet fitting that his inner demon — or rather, his Persona, should be Arsene Lupin. While Lelouch's favorite diversion from the tedium of his everyday life was chess, he had read many books over the years, frequently on tactics, but also finding an escape through fiction. An old favorite of his has been the Count of Monte Cristo, and his schemes for revenge against those who had unjustly imprisoned him, but more recently, he had discovered the adventures of Arsene Lupin, by the French author, Maurice Leblanc, and they too had resonated with him. That Arsene Lupin was a criminal who mostly targeted those whose crimes were worse than his own particularly appealed to Lelouch. Sometimes evil had to be committed to defeat the greater evils that would oppress those weaker than themselves.

The books were actually fairly difficult to find - many Britannians looked down upon authors from the E.U., one of the empire's ideological enemies, particularly when their themes would be considered subversive, in which case they were frequently censored. But apparently Leblanc's stories had been very popular in pre-invasion Japan, and thus Lelouch had managed to surreptitiously obtain a set for himself.

As Lelouch continued to surreptitiously move through the dungeons, he saw that he hadn't been the only prisoner within them. There were other students who had been disciplined by Coach Nu or the SSDF locked in the cells. Lacking the means to free them, he stayed out of their sight to the extent possible. It was a pity. He would have liked to stage a large-scale jailbreak, leaving Villetta's guards with their hands full as he made his escape. But those few prisoners who had seen him had been apathetic, murmuring simply that he was wasting his time and that it was Villetta's right to punish them as the Baroness. They would have been useless as allies.

The dungeons were crawling with enemies though, from the knights to the occasional member of the SSDF on the lookout. For the most part, he had managed to avoid them, while ambushing and disposing of those knights he couldn't slip past before they could alert their comrades. He felt no remorse at taking out the knights - under the armor, they were just demons anyway. But he hesitated at the thought of attacking the SSDF members. He wasn't sure if they were actually human, or if they were demons like the knights, and so he erred on the side of caution for now. It would create plenty of headaches if an Ashford student were to turn up dead, not least of which would be bringing unwanted scrutiny over the campus in the search for possible suspects.

Lelouch was near a T-shaped intersection, crouching in the shadows behind a crate as he planned his next move, when he heard rapid footsteps approaching. They were too light to be one of the knights clanking around in heavy armor. Could it be an SSDF squad? No, there would be more footsteps if it was an entire squad. A lookout, perhaps? But then why would they be running so quickly?

"Why are there so many guards?" a voice said. It sounded slightly feminine, but he couldn't be sure.

"Some idiot must have raised the security level!" A distinctly female voice replied. He was strangely sure that he had heard it before, but something about it was different, making it difficult for him to place.

"But we should be the only ones here!" the first voice said. "Who else knows how to enter a Palace?"

As the footsteps grew closer, one of the speakers came into view. One of them was a woman with spiky red hair, wearing a red rubber suit. His first impression was that it resembled a motorcycle suit, given the additional silvery protective padding on her shins, shoulders, wrists, and sides, and how the suit was zipped up the entire length of her front, from her crotch to her neck. But the suit was far more skintight than what a typical motorcyclist would wear, drawing attention to a figure that was clearly well-toned, and curved in a way that most boys his age at Ashford Academy would find to be highly attractive.

Lelouch immediately forced that last thought from his mind, quashing it almost before he realized that it had even occurred to him at all. He was not one to allow himself to be distracted by such trivial things as looks. He had no time to waste ogling the newcomer while he was trying to find a way out of this dungeon, and even if he had such a luxury, he would have had little interest in doing so. He had never quite understood what all the fuss was about, but he could clearly see how his classmates made fools of themselves over it. No, his appraising gaze served a far more practical purpose, assessing if the woman was a potential ally or if she would prove to be another foe.

The woman's features were well-hidden behind a mask decorated with crimson lotus petals, revealing only her mouth, nose, and fierce blue eyes, which prevented Lelouch from matching her voice to a face that he might recognize. It was even more frustrating because red hair and blue eyes were a very distinctive combination, but when he had more time to think, he was sure that he would be able to identify her. Still, if her eyes and stance, that of one who had been trained to always be on the lookout for danger, weren't indication enough that she wasn't to be trifled with, there was a large clawed weapon strapped to her right arm. It gave the impression that she was one to brutalize those who crossed her in close-quarters combat.

Lelouch still couldn't see the other person that she had been speaking to. Instead... he saw a cat. A cat with black fur, hurrying behind her on all fours… No… something was strange about this cat. For starters, it was wearing a black mask across its face, and it had a matching high-collared cape, lined red on the inside, trailing behind it. The cat had small pouch slung around its neck, which held a small knife, seemingly positioned so that the cat could grab the weapon with its mouth, absurd as the idea was. But even as the cat tried to keep up with the woman, it did so with a bit of a limp, and Lelouch could see that there a sticky red fluid staining the fur on one of its legs.

"I think we've lost them," the woman said quietly.

The cat raised its head, sniffing the air.

"Not yet I'm afraid," it replied.

The cat could talk?!

But in spite of his astonishment, Lelouch recognized that a talking cat was the least of his worries. From his hiding spot, he could see that guards were converging on the intersection. A pair of knights was on the path ahead of him, another pair was coming up the path he had taken, and presumably more were coming from wherever the woman and the cat had fled from. If all of those guards managed to join up, the woman and the cat would be badly outnumbered, and Lelouch knew that he couldn't assume that he would remain unseen.

But if he were to help the woman and her strange companion, they might stand a chance together. With the right tactics, even a numerically superior enemy force could be defeated in detail. That was to say that if they could isolate the enemy and destroy the guards in smaller groups, they might stand a chance. He still couldn't assume that the woman and the cat were his friends, but at least they definitely had a common enemy, and perhaps they could work together just long enough to get out of dungeons, or whatever the place really was.

The woman and the cat reached the intersection, putting them between and in clear view of the guards on each side.

"Intruders!" one of the knights shouted.

"It looks like they found us, Tama!" The woman said, quickly adopting a fighting stance in a way that only came through intensive practice. "We'll have to fight!"

"I'm not Tama!" the cat replied irritably.

"Sieze them!" another knight bellowed.

The knights on each side charged forward, but they did not see Lelouch lying in wait, focused as they were on the woman and the cat. Smirking silently, Lelouch sprung his trap as soon as the closest two had passed him, leaping onto the back of one of the knights in a feat of agility that he could not have pulled off without Arsene's power.

He then ripped off its mask.

He had surmised that as his own mask was the locus of his Persona ability, the demon's masks might be the source of their own power. Indeed, through trial and error, he had been able to confirm on his way through the dungeons that depriving a demon of its mask would not only force it to reveal its true form, but it would disorient and impair the demon in battle, at least for a time.

"Huh?!" The woman exclaimed, startled by Lelouch's arrival.

"Go, Arsene!" he shouted.

The winged thief materialized, casting a curse on the demon whose mask Lelouch had just stolen, causing it to fall to its knees.

"He has a Persona too!" the cat gasped.

"Just follow my lead if you want to win!" Lelouch called over to them. "Take the other two!"

"Hmph! We'll ask questions later," the woman replied. "But if he's got our backs, we can handle these Shadows!"

"I agree," the cat said before pawing at its mask. "Master Cat!"

A bipedal tabby cat with ginger fur, over twice as large as its summoner, appeared. It wore a cape, a feathered hat, and a fine pair of boots, wielding a rapier in one of its paws. The ghostly chains connecting it to the smaller black cat and the blue flames surrounding it proved that it was a Persona.

"Garu!"

A gust of wind swirled out of nowhere, knocking down one of the demons, or Shadows as the woman had called them. The black cat then picked up its knife in its mouth and swung it forward. The cat's Persona mimicked the action with its rapier, piercing the Shadow and causing it to disperse.

"Your turn!" the cat called to its partner.

Rather than summoning a Persona, the woman delivered a vicious kick to the nearest Shadow, stunning it, and then did a flip into the air, launching herself over Lelouch and descending upon the remaining enemy to deliver a staggering blow as she drove her metal claw down. Now two Shadows were slain, and the remaining two were helpless on the ground.

"Don't give them a chance to get back up!" Lelouch called to the woman and the cat. "Everyone, attack!"

Assaulted from all sides, the remaining Shadows never had a chance. Within seconds, two high-pressure spurts of blood exploded from them, and they perished. The Shadow's bodies disappeared moments later, leaving no trace of them behind.

The woman glanced around, scanning for enemies. Meanwhile, the cat summoned its Persona again, and an gentle aura enveloped its leg. After a few seconds, the bleeding stopped.

Healing magic.

"This way," the woman said after a moment, gesturing to Lelouch. "There should be a safe room up ahead." Through the holes in her mask, Lelouch could see her eyes narrowing. "We'll expect an explanation from you there."

She led them a short distance further down the corridor, stopping at what appeared to be a storeroom. The door seemed to oddly shimmer, and upon entering, it was indeed a storeroom… but one back at the real Ashford Academy. At least, he thought it was, before that faded like a mirage, once again revealing medieval architecture.

"Okay… the distortion is weak here, so we shouldn't have to worry about any Shadows interrupting us. Now, what's your story?" The woman demanded, suspicion clear in her voice. "Whatever stunt you pulled earlier put all the guards on high alert and ruined our attempt at infiltrating this Palace. How did you get in here anyway? As Tama said, we should have been-" She paused, looking at him quizzically. "Wait a minute… do I know you?" She shook her head. "No, you couldn't be him… And you can't be a Cognition of him either... "

The cat nodded. "I agree. I've never heard of a Cognition using a Persona."

So this place was called a 'Palace', and 'this Palace' implied that there was more than one such location. Intriguing. 'Shadows', 'Palaces', 'Cognitions'... the jargon used between the woman and the cat, to say nothing of the fact that they had entered the Palace intentionally, showed that they had been doing this longer than he had. For a change, he was confronted with a pair of individuals who knew the rules of the game already, while he was just figuring them out.

But of course, it would be dangerous to show any weakness in front of them. For now, they were just allies of convenience, and that could quickly change if they decided that he was a liability or a threat to them.

"I happened upon this Palace and was doing some investigation of my own," Lelouch said, bluffing and trying to divert her attention, concerned that she seemed to have an idea of who he was while he was still trying to figure out her identity. As always, he made sure that the lie contained a grain of the truth, so that it might be more convincing. He had 'happened' upon it, after all.

The woman's temper flared. "Bullshit! You can't just 'happen' upon a Palace! You need to have the right keywords for the MetNav!"

"MetNav?" Lelouch thought to himself. "Wait - Does she mean... that strange app? The Metaverse Navigator!"

He resisted the temptation to pull out his phone to check for the app, even though he clearly recalled deleting it. If he did so, she would immediately know for sure that he didn't know what was going on.

"Of course," he said smoothly. "You've got me there. But I might ask what you are doing here. And what sort of creature is your companion? It looks like a cat, but-"

"I'm-" the cat spoke up. "Well, I was just an ordinary cat…" It looked away. "Before I entered the Metaverse…. But I have a name, you know! I'm Arthur - so don't just go calling me 'it'!"

"I thought we agreed not to use our real names, Tama." The woman said quietly, glancing down at Arthur.

"Why do you have to keep calling me that? I'd much prefer a nickname like Merlin."

"No, all cats should be called Tama."

Come to think of it, 'Tama' had been the name of the family cat in a very popular prewar manga, though it had largely been unknown outside of Japan, largely due to requiring an intimate knowledge of daily life in Japan in order for one to appreciate it. Now, it was banned by Britannia along with most other forms of Japanese culture. The only reason that Lelouch had learned about it in the first place was through Suzaku.

Arthur sighed.

Lelouch didn't have further opportunity to reflect on the past, because the woman had looked up from Arthur and was glaring at him again. "But I'm supposed to be the one asking the questions!"

Her eyes were moving, and he could see that she was trying to read his body language and determine his true intentions. Finally, she seemed to relent a little.

"Well, you're no friend of the Palace ruler at least. As you _should_ know, the attire symbolizing our rebellion appears if the Palace ruler considers us hostile."

"I can see that," Lelouch murmured. He smirked slightly. The first objective had been cleared. He appraised her once again, now that he could take a closer look, glancing up and then down. "It's quite the outfit you have there. From the lotus petals, and your cat naming sense, I take it you are Japanese?"

The woman did a take. Perhaps she was surprised that he knew about Japanese culture. But then he realized, without any conscious intention on his part, his gaze had lingered a moment too long on a certain spot.

And she had just realized that too.

The woman flung up her arms to cover her chest. "Stop looking at me like that, you pervert!" she demanded, sounding mortified. Indeed, a hint of red could be seen peeking out from under her lotus mask, and Lelouch realized that his own cheeks were getting warm too. He had just given her the wrong idea about him.

Glancing away apologetically, he waited for her to calm down.

"Um... anyways! So what if I'm Japanese?" the woman spluttered. Composing herself, the woman's tone became dangerously sharp, and her eyes suddenly held lethal intent, though it was held in check for now. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Lelouch knew that if he answered incorrectly, she would turn on him at once. Fortunately, he could see what the correct answer was, and it so happened to be the truth.

"Not at all," he replied smoothly.

She was no longer ready to murder him, but she was still on guard.

"What are you then?" she demanded. "Britannian?" She practically spat out the word. "What would a Britannian be doing infiltrating this Palace?"

"I have my reasons," Lelouch said simply. "As you said, I'm a rebel here, and I for one do not approve of how the 'Baroness' or Britannia is running things."

The woman sighed.

"Well… I suppose I have to thank you for helping us with those Shadows."

"As for us, to make a long story short, her brother received the MetNav— " Arthur piped up.

"Tama!" the woman scolded. "Why are you telling him that?!"

"Don't worry," Arthur replied. "I have a good feel for knowing who to trust. Besides, something about him reminds me of your brother. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders, but isn't afraid to leap into the fray either. I think we can get along just fine."

The woman crossed her arms testily. "We'll see about that. He's got some guts, showing himself like he did, I'll give you that, but I honestly can't see some cocky Britannian measuring up to my brother." She seemed sad, but quickly shook her head, and was back to her gruff self. "Whatever you do, Tama, just don't go spilling all of our secrets to him when he hasn't done the same."

That was an interesting reaction. Lelouch found himself wondering if there was a more vulnerable side to the woman that she was trying to keep hidden, just as he had tried to hide his own ignorance of this world a short time ago.

Arthur nodded. "Anyway, her brother began using the MetNav to explore this world, the Metaverse. The psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns haven't just been affecting Britannians, and as this is a place shaped by people's cognition, he came to think that they might be related to this world as well. As for me... I was a stray back then, but he had given me some food and water before, so I followed him. Then one day, I accidentally got too close as he was using the MetNav, and I got pulled into the Metaverse with him. I was always smart for a cat, but something changed me in here. So I decided that I'd continue to stick with him so I could find out why. But soon his luck ran out, and the Shadows killed him."

"My brother… showed me this world and introduced me to Tama before he died," the woman said uneasily. "He must have had a feeling something bad was going to happen, and… he wanted me to be able to finish what he started." She was clearly holding back her emotions, though she was having difficulty in doing so. "He thought it was really important."

So, he had been right. It was a pain that Lelouch was all too familiar with, and one that he knew could never fully heal, leaving deep scars on the psyche.

"That's why we're here," Arthur concluded, looking up at Lelouch again. "We'd be grateful if you'd lend us your power. My Persona's pretty strong, but hers isn't fully awakened yet, so we could be in a tight spot if we get outnumbered again."

"You're part of the reason we're in this mess in the first place," the woman muttered, and Lelouch couldn't fail to notice that she was glaring at him again. "You had better help us, if you're at all sorry for what you've done."

Lelouch had no objections. They had proven themselves as capable fighters, and the woman, as a Japanese person, had plenty of reason to hate Britannia, just as he did.

He could use them, and in any event, such an arrangement would be mutually beneficial.

"At least to the exit… it's a deal," he told them.

"You scratch our back, we'll scratch yours," Arthur replied. Was the cat grinning? "I look forward to working with you."

Suddenly, there was a flash, though neither Arthur nor the woman seemed to notice it at all. And then, Lelouch heard a female voice echoing within himself, the same voice he had made a contract with earlier.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Magician Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

What was that? This world kept getting stranger and stranger.

"Okay," Arthur said. "We've been here a few times before, so we'll lead the way. You can help us with any Shadows we might encounter."

They fought a few more battles as they proceeded through the dungeons, carefully ambushing Shadows and finishing them off quickly with Arsene, Master Cat, and the woman's innate strength and agility, which was formidable even without a fully fledged Persona. They seemed to make a good team together.

However, Lelouch was startled when the woman snuck up on one of the SSDF members from behind, using one hand to cover his mouth to keep him from screaming out, while the other raised her claws to slit the student's throat. She did it all without hesitation. A moment later, the student disappeared and burst into black flames.

"You didn't seriously think they were real, did you?" she asked Lelouch, seeing his discomfort. "How new at this are you? That's one of the first rules of Palaces. If they're not Shadows or Persona-users, they're Cognitions. The Palace's ruler sees these students as her informers, and so here they are, like her early warning system."

"Think of them as being highly lifelike dolls created by the Palace ruler's perception of the real people that they're based on," Arthur explained.

"So a kind of simulacrum?" Lelouch asked.

"I guess that's another way of putting it," Arthur replied.

"If they catch you," the woman continued, "they'll call a bunch of Shadows, and things will get ugly quick. But killing one of them has no effect on the person they're based on. They're not real anyway, so there's no reason not to." She scowled. "The Cognitions don't stay dead either. If the Palace's ruler wants them back, they'll reappear before long."

So it was like how one might see a person die in a dream, only for them to be back, alive and well, in another dream later on. After all, if he was understanding this strange world correctly, it seemed very much to be some kind of twisted dream of the Palace's ruler. But unlike Cognitions, dying in the Palace truly was fatal for real people, as the woman's late brother proved, assuming that the whole thing wasn't just an incredibly detailed dream of his own.

But no, Lelouch knew that he was past of the point of seriously doubting the reality of the situation that he found himself in, bizarre as it was. To treat it with anything but the utmost seriousness would very likely prove deadly.

"Even if they were real, I'd kill them without a second thought if they threatened to expose us," he heard the woman saying.

Inwardly, Lelouch cursed himself for his earlier weakness. She was right, of course. Had he not vowed to Arsene to that he would commit any sacrilegious acts for the sake of his own justice? How could he expect to topple Britannia if he felt queasy at the idea of killing when necessary? He'd have to overcome any such qualms that he had.

The group moved onward, and soon they were out of the dungeons. Their surroundings were no longer so damp or gloomy. They passed through a series of corridors, illuminated by light streaming in through a number of windows, though they were too high to escape through. The decor was lavish, yet it somehow seemed garish, even by the nobility's standards.

"Okay, we're almost there," Arthur said as they entered the main hall. "Good job, everyone."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," an unwelcome voice said. Suddenly, the Baroness appeared in the hall in front of them, backed up by a platoon of guards, including a larger knight in golden armor that undoubtedly indicated a higher rank. Cognitions of SSDF members rushed in, standing in the rear and blocking off the doors.

"It's the Palace ruler, the Shadow of the person who gave rise to this world! This is really bad!" Arthur yelped.

"So it seems you're in league with those other intruders," Shadow Villetta sneered, ignoring Arthur, but hatefully locking her glowing golden eyes on Lelouch. "You really thought I was going to be still stuck in that cell as you made your escape?" The Shadow laughed. "This Castle is my world! Everyone and everything in it responds to my whims! That is, except for traitors. But not for long. Anyone who stands in my way will pay the price!"

Shadow Villetta regarded them contemptuously, and her gaze shifted toward Arthur. "So the cat comes back. It seems It seems you still haven't learned your lesson. The death of your master wasn't enough for you?"

Next to Lelouch, the woman with the lotus mask clenched a fist.

"It's bad enough that the Eleven was trying to steal my Treasure. The sooner they accept that we Britannians are destined to rule over them, the better! But actually, I'm glad you came back, and the boy too. It makes it so much easier to exterminate the vermin in one fell swoop."

"You… killed my brother," the masked woman said, barely containing her anger.

"Ah… what have we here? Could it be?" There was an evil glint in the Baroness' eyes. "I recall the traitor's last words now… 'Kallen'…. He was talking about his younger sister… Could you be…. Kallen Stadtfeld?"

The redheaded rebel went rigid, and her reaction told Lelouch that the Baroness's deduction had hit the mark. He for one couldn't help but be surprised. The fierce woman at his side was really the same meek, sickly honors student that he knew from school, whom he had defended from Villetta in the real world earlier this morning? He had to give her credit; she had some acting skills if she had able to fool him, when he should know about leading a double life better than anyone. Though on the other hand, Kallen was out frequently enough that he had never really had the chance to see anything but the facade that she had constructed for herself, which was certainly by design.

Shadow Villetta let out a cruel laugh, her sadistic gaze still locked on Kallen. "This is rich! You're not even a real Britannian, just another filthy Eleven! Or did your noble father have an affair with a lowly Eleven woman? Disgusting. I could never touch, let alone love an Eleven."

Shadow Villetta closed in, circling around them. "You came here to die, didn't you, Kallen? You know in your heart that defeating me is impossible, let alone Britannia. What could a bunch of ragtag terrorists cells ever hope to accomplish, other than giving us the perfect excuse to tighten our grip and get rid of that pathetic Honorary Britannian system?"

"I-" Kallen started, her hands trembling.

"But to think that a mere Eleven has claim to a title of nobility!" Shadow Villetta seethed. "Do you have any idea how hard I've slaved away to get to where I am, who I've had to blackmail and betray? You know, if you had just swallowed your ridiculous pride as an Eleven, you could have had everything that people envy. Wealth… prestige… servants to attend to your every need. You could have conned a real Britannian noble into marrying you. Even if you persisted with your treachery, you could have done some actual damage with the privileges of nobility. But you chose to come here, too weak to live on your own without following your pathetic brother to the grave."

"Stop it!" Kallen cried. Shadow Villetta was now standing mere feet away from her, just out of reach of her claws. The other Shadows had followed their ruler's lead, surrounding the group. Lelouch and Arthur were standing back to back, but there were far too many for them to take on at once.

"Oh, I've struck a nerve, have I?" Shadow Villetta smirked. "Don't worry, Miss Stadtfeld… I'll save you for last, and I'll make you tell me everything you know. Exposing a fake noble and her collaborators! What a coup for me!"

"Kallen, are you going to just let her win?" Lelouch shouted out.

"Huh?"

"There are times when I thought the odds were impossible too, that I couldn't do anything against Britannia. I had almost given up. But you have to fight back! Nothing will ever change if you don't!"

"What nonsense is this?" Shadow Villetta demanded.

"You're braver than I was - you started fighting back even before you had power," Lelouch continued, ignoring Villetta. "No... you're already more powerful than you know! Now remember what Britannia took from you! Trust me, and we can win! No, not just win — we'll create a miracle! Together, we will destroy Britannia!"

"You don't really believe that drivel, do you Miss Stadteld?" Shadow Villetta snarled. "Guards, kill the boy first! I'm getting quite tired of listening to his delusions!"

"You're wrong," Kallen said, her eyes downcast.

Shadow Villetta paused. "About what, traitor?"

Kallen raised her head to meet Villetta's gaze, her blue eyes revealed to be blazing with fury.

"My name is Kozuki Kallen! I will show you not to underestimate the Japanese!"

"This is what I have been waiting for!" A female voice suddenly echoed out of nowhere. At once, Kallen dropped to her knees, clutching her head in pain. Lelouch could see that somehow, her eyes had turned the same supernatural gold as the Shadow's. "Out of the moment of doubt emerges such magnificent resolve! Let it waver nevermore. Avenge thy brother and take back thine homeland, even if thou must dance through rivers of blood! Swear to me: I am thou… thou art I… Today, your rebel's heart is born anew, wielding the destructive might of an oni with the beauty of a crimson lotus!"

"Guards! Leave the boy! Stop her!" Shadow Viletta shouted, panicking.

With a scream Kallen, ripped off her lotus mask in a spray of blood. Chains clattered and blue flames surrounded her, blasting back Shadow Villetta and the guards her as her Persona truly manifested for the first time, a vaguely mechanical female figure clad in crimson samurai armor, armed with a double blade in its claw-like hands.

"That Persona's power is incredible!" Arthur exclaimed. "I've never seen anything like it before!"

Kallen rose to her feet. Her eyes were back to normal, but she truly seemed fearsome now. In that moment, Lelouch doubted that there was anything that there was anything that could stand in her way and emerge unscathed.

"Go, Suzuka Gozen!" she shouted. "Let's show these fellas what this badass mother can do!"

Her Persona rushed forward, bisecting a line of guards in a single swipe.

"I don't have time for this!" Shadow Villetta shouted, scrambling to her feet. "Captain, deal with them! Do not fail me!"

"Yes, my lady!"

The knight in golden armor burst to reveal its true form as a Shadow… a much larger red knight, mounted on a fell horse and with a massive lance and a horned helm.

"Quake, rebels! In the Baroness' name, I will carry out your execution without fail!"

"Spread out!" Lelouch shouted in a commanding tone that left no room for debate.

The captain charged, and they barely avoided being trampled by his steed.

"Master Cat!"

Arthur's Persona appeared, and quickly stabbed at the Shadow's side with its rapier . Turning, the captain irritably swung his lance around, striking Master Cat with the shaft and sending the Persona flying backward into a column. Arthur recoiled, as if he too had been struck.

'That armor's too thick!" Lelouch called out, adapting his strategy quickly. "Physical attacks barely have any effect on it! Switch to magic!"

"Garu!" Arthur shouted.

The captain was buffeted by the wind, and while it seemed somewhat more effective, it did little to dent his armor.

"He's still coming at us!" Arthur moaned.

"Pull back and heal yourself, Tama!"

"You're using that nickname now too?" Arthur cried.

"Just do it!"

"Okay," Arthur replied, scurrying out of harm's way.

"Arsene!" Lelouch called out, gripping his mask. His Persona cast Eiha on the captain, but the enemy simply shrugged off the attack.

"Did you really think a curse would harm a knight from Hell?" the Shadow laughed.

Lelouch grimaced. They were quickly running out of options. "Kallen! Is there anything you can do?"

"I'm on it!"

Suzuka Gozen opened one of its clawed hands, and a a bolt of nuclear energy shot from it, striking the captain in the side. The intense radiation warped the armor, causing it to partially melt and bubble.

"Ugh!" The captain fell to his knees.

"It's vulnerable!" Lelouch shouted. "Commence an all-out attack!"

"You've got it!"

The three of them charged forward, relentlessly striking the captain while it was unable to fight back.

"How dare you!" the captain roared as it struggled back to its feet under the barrage. It was badly hurt, but not finished. "I will see you in hell, insolent rebels!"

"Send a postcard!" Kallen countered.

Disarming the captain with a deft flick of her blade, Suzuka Gozen grabbed the captain's helmet with her other clawed hand, and blasted the captain with nuclear energy again, this time at point-blank range, melting his head to slag. With a last whine from his steed, Villetta's captain of the guards exploded into harmless black wisps, and was no more.

"She beat the captain practically by herself!" the Cognitions of the SSDF members cowered. "She's like a demon! Run!"

The Cognitive SSDF members wasted no further time in making their exit, leaving Lelouch, Kallen and Arthur alone in the hall.

"So even Coach Nu sees them as the spineless thugs they really are," Lelouch murmured. "They only act tough when they have someone weaker than themselves to pick on."

"Kallen! If your brother could have seen that…!" Arthur began.

"I know." With a sigh, she fell to her knees once again. "I'm exhausted…".

"You gave it your all, didn't you?" Lelouch said, coming up behind her. He paused. "I too know what its like to lose someone close to you, and of the need to avenge them."

"He's not avenged yet. That Shadow… the Palace ruler… is still out there. What could she be hiding in this castle that was worth his life?" Kallen was freely crying now.

"I'm sure he wanted to protect you," Lelouch said, offering what words of comfort that he could. "Isn't that what a big brother does? I know I'd do anything for my little sister."

It occurred to him that he might have said too much there, but it was already done, and if Kallen had picked up on it, she didn't say anything to that effect.

"I'll keep fighting, and I'll get to the bottom of this." She paused, looking up at him. "Did you mean what you said? That we can defeat Britannia?"

"I did. With this power, we'll find a way."

She gave him a curious look. "I'll hold you to that," she said after a moment.

There was another flash, just as he had experienced earlier with Arthur.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Chariot Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

Lelouch strangely felt every so slightly stronger, although he couldn't say why. What did it all mean?

"Okay, let's go, before the guards come back," Arthur urged. "Our escape point is this way!"

He led them to a side room, where there was a stack of crates that they could use to clamber up to and escape through a window.

"The main door is sealed tight," Arthur explained. "Once we're outside, it's just a quick jaunt across the grounds, scaling some vines on the outer wall, and then dropping down the other side."

Lelouch blanched. Hadn't they already done enough running today to last a lifetime?

Seeing Lelouch's expression, Arthur said, "What? It's only some light exercise compared to what we've done thus far. Besides, the guards are bound to be in disarray with the loss of their captain, so I doubt we'll have problems."

Indeed, the rest of the escape went relatively uneventfully. They slipped through the gardens surrounding the castle and scaled the outer wall, to the side of the gatehouse. They used vines growing along it the wall makeshift ropes, with Arthur clinging to Kallen as they climbed, and dropped down on the other side, thankfully undetected. Lelouch felt himself panting, and his muscles were burning through the whole escape, but Arsene wouldn't let him fail such a simple test of being a phantom thief.

Now that they were beyond the wall, Lelouch could see the surrounding Tokyo Settlement, looking much as it normally did, though the skies were still an unnatural red.

"We should be able to safely make an exit here," Kallen said. "The Palace doesn't extend much past the outer wall. We can simply walk out the way we came, and we'll be back in reality. It's the safest way to leave a Palace. With all of the Distortion within a Palace, you don't want to use the MetNav unless you're absolutely sure that you know where you're going to end up, and that you're not going to get caught in front of witnesses when you do." She paused. "You did come this way, right?"

Lelouch nodded, though that was a lie, and took a step forward.

"Well, now we'll see who you really are," Kallen said as they crossed the threshold.

Wait, what?!

It was too late for him to stop now. Lelouch felt the world distorting around him. No, that wasn't quite right. They were moving through and out of the Distortion of the Palace, back to a more familiar reality.

Without warning, his trench coat turned back into his Ashford Academy uniform, and his mask disappeared. Kallen's rubber suit was similarly replaced with her own Ashford uniform, while her hair straightened itself into the style she normally wore around the school. Arthur… well, he was still a cat, but now that his mask was gone, Lelouch could see that Arthur had a large patch of darker fur around an eye.

"Welcome back. You have returned to the real world," a voice from his phone announced.

"It really was you…" Kallen said, looking at him in a mixture of suspicion and disbelief. "I knew it! You're Lelouch Lamperouge!" She grabbed his arm roughly, pulling out a small pink pouch from her pocket, from which a concealed knife sprung. "Listen!" she hissed, leaning in close. "If you even think of telling anyone about me or what you saw in the Metaverse, I'll kill you."

"Aren't you fiesty?" Lelouch replied with a chuckle. He knew however that she was deadly serious.

"Whoa, no need to bite his head off, Kallen!" Arthur's voice said from beneath them. "He promised to help us."

Lelouch glanced down at the cat quizzically.

"Is it so hard to believe that if I can speak in the Metaverse, I can do so here as well?" Arthur yawned. "Well, I'm exhausted. I don't know about you, but I'm going to find a place to curl up and take a nap." He turned his head. "Try not to kill him, Kallen, especially out in the open like this. You never know who might be watching."

Kallen seemed to falter for a moment, though she did not relinquish her grip, and Lelouch knew better than to try to wrest himself free. He could tell from how tightly she was holding him that Kallen was much stronger than himself, and if he tried to fight back at all, she would reflexively kill him. Her compassion for a Britannian attending an elite school might as well be nonexistent. Yet Arthur had made a rational argument, and Kallen's reaction had shown that he could use that opening. But ultimately, Lelouch knew that if Kallen was to trust him, he would have to convince her himself.

Unknown to the rebels, someone else indeed happened to walk by at that moment, and saw them in the distance: Shirley Fenette. She missed seeing them appear out of thin air, and nor did she see Kallen pulling a knife on Lelouch. What she did see was Lelouch returning to campus with Kallen after the two of them had missed class, seemingly holding hands. Her conclusion, as much as she wanted to deny it, was obvious, and her heart felt tight.

"Lulu's dating Kallen?!"

 **A/N:**

 **Arsene - the pillager of twilight, his portrayal in Persona 5 and this story is actually considerably more vicious than the fictional character upon which he is based, as Arsene Lupin made it a point not to actually kill anyone. Specializes in Dark and ailment skills, with high agility and above average magic in Lelouch's manifestation of the Persona, though other stats are average or low.**

 **Master Cat - Better known as "Puss in Boots", a trickster who relentlessly pursues the advancement of his Master, improving his own status in the process. Some versions of the story downplay his selfish motives, in that bringing them to fruition** **helps some other people as well in the process. Superficially, Master Cat's skill set may seem similar to Morgana's Zorro, in that wind and healing spells, along with light physical skills have been displayed so far. However, Master Cat is actually closer ability-wise to Yosuke's Jiraya, with balanced stats and an evasive build, a jack of trades, though Master Cat relies more on multiple light strikes than does Jiraya.**

 **Suzuka Gozen - a dancing bandit princess, said to have fought the oni, and who may have been an oni herself. Persona fans will recognize the design as being that of Suzuka Gongen (another spelling of the name), but with some elements of the Guren Mk. II mixed in, such as the red color scheme and clawed hands. Excels in Nuclear and heavy Physical skills. Magic is actually a relative weakness of the Persona, with limited flexibility for casting spells, but reflecting her stats as an ace in Code Geass, Kallen's** **Persona has solid to exceptional attributes across the board, allowing her to still do heavy damage with the Frei (nuclear) series. This Persona is** **individually more powerful than Arsene and Master Cat combined at the moment. Of course, Lelouch has not realized the full extent of his powers yet...**

 **Arthur's voice is stated to have a somewhat** **feminine sound, as he is voiced by Michelle Ruff in the English dub, just as Morgana is voiced by Cassandra Lee Moris in Persona 5. Making Arthur a loose parallel to Morgana was planned from the beginning, and even as I wrote the story, I could feel some of Morgana's attitude creeping into Arthur, but their origins are not the same, and I will strive to differentiate them in other ways as the story progresses. For one, Arthur is more likely to nap himself than demand that Lelouch go to bed, as Morgana would. Arthur's weapon of choice is also more akin to Koromaru's from Persona 3. As for his thief outfit, Zero's mask would impede that fighting style, so that idea was rejected, but the cape is a miniature version of Zero's cape from canon in a nod to that scene in the show. As for the nickname Tama, it's a name Kallen proposes for Arthur in one of the Code Geass sound dramas.**

 **Edit: Just like Chapter 2, I decided to come back and revise this chapter, adding details and tweaking some scenes. Most notably, I changed Lelouch's initial impression of Kallen slightly, judging the original to be too out of his canon character at the start of the series. The revisions ended up making the chapter significantly longer, but I think it's stronger for them.**

 **Also, I realized I forgot an important detail in the awakening itself - the eyes always briefly turn golden during the awakening.**


	4. Interlude - Interrogation, Part 2

"Villetta Nu, member of the Purist Faction, formerly of the army, highly proficient as a Knightmare pilot, before being recruited into the counterintelligence division," Cornelia said, reading from a file. "Assigned to Ashford Academy undercover as a gym teacher to monitor for possible subversive activity, observe if the curriculum and student body conformed to ideological standards, and ensure the loyalty of the Ashford family. Resigned from the school after admitting to mistreating students and also confessing to other crimes, including blackmail. Subsequently demoted, stripped of the title of Knight, and reassigned. She was your first target, was she not, Zero?"

Lelouch nodded.

"So the Black Knights were founded at Ashford Academy then?"

Lelouch didn't answer. Perhaps some of it was his natural defiance, but with his head as messed up as it was right now, it was hard to say what was true or not. But he had enough wherewithal to be wary of saying something that might prove incriminating.

Cornelia took out another file, spreading a set of photos in front of Lelouch. "Suzaku Kururugi… Milly Ashford…. Kallen Stadtfeld… and Shirley Fenette. Each of these students was either on or joined the Ashford Academy Student Council around the time of the incident, making it easy for them to meet, and all of them had cause to hold a grudge against Villetta Nu. It stands to reason that some or all of them were Black Knights."

Cornelia laid out another pair of photos. "Rivalz Cardemonde and Nina Einstein, both members of the Student Council as well. The former used to drive you so you could illegally gamble at chess matches, and continued to serve as one of your accomplices even after the Black Knights had made their debut. The latter was noted for her skill in science, and took on a number of independent projects during the last six months, making use of Ashford's laboratory equipment. In these projects, she was an unwitting pawn of her fellow Student Council members, that is to say, the Black Knights. Do deny any of that now?"

Lelouch smirked. "So you don't have any real proof of their involvement then. Or do you, Viceroy?"

"Lelouch! You realize that if you stay silent or lie to protect your friends, it's not going to help anyone in the end! You'll be executed, and we'll root out the traitors among them soon enough anyway, with or without your help!"

"…."

"So you still refuse to betray your friends?" Cornelia sighed. "At another time, I'd call it an admirable quality. Let me take a different approach then. If you won't tell me who the Black Knights are, perhaps you'll speak more of the methods you used. Normally, I'd call you a raving lunatic for expecting me to believe in something as fanciful as a 'Persona', and that you awakened to some kind of supernatural power in another world. But the way in which you changed the hearts of so many people seems nothing but supernatural."

Lelouch shook his head. "Viceroy Cornelia, why would I tell you something so preposterous that you would never believe it, unless it was really the truth? You know me better than that."

"I know that you've become a skilled liar. But I can't think of any plausible alternatives. And if you could obtain such an ability, who knows who else might be able to use it to threaten Britannia? So I'm willing to listen and reserve judgment on your story for now, but I expect the truth in turn. If I decide that you're wasting my time, this interview is over! Do you understand?!"

Lelouch nodded. "Very well, Viceroy. I will tell you the truth of how the Black Knights stole hearts…"

"And I will get to the bottom of this, no matter what it takes," Cornelia said vehemently.

"Then we have ourselves as deal," Lelouch replied.

There was a flash, one that Lelouch had experienced many times before.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Judgement Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

Lelouch smirked. The first objective had been cleared.

 **A/N:**

 **I know I said the it would take longer for the next chapter, but this isn't really a full chapter, more of a framing device setting the stage for what is to come.**

 **Persona 5 uses the British spelling of "Judgement" for the Arcana rather than the American "Judgment", so I will follow that convention in reference to the Arcana as well.**

 **Under other circumstances, Cornelia's personality would be quite fitting for the Empress Arcana. However, with the role she plays in this story, and the Persona 5 character who she is paralleling, it is only proper that she be Lelouch's Judgement Confidant.**


	5. His Codename is Zero

Kallen continued to maintain her grip on Lelouch, her knife at his side, staring intently at him. It seemed that she was wrestling between the impulse to kill him and eliminate someone who knew her identity, versus her better judgment, which would know the risks of committing a crime that would be hard to conceal, and the potential benefits of a continued alliance with him.

"Killing me out in the open like this won't solve anything, you know," he told her quietly. "Arthur's right. If someone sees you, your cover is blown anyway. Besides, he thinks that you can trust me. You've learned to trust him, haven't you?

"You know, you're way too calm about this," she replied, giving him a funny look. "Most people would be freaking out right about now if they were being held at knife point."

He smirked. "That's because I know that you're not going to kill me, Kallen. At least, not for now."

Annoyance flashed in Kallen's eyes. "Wanna bet?" She moved her hand forward another inch, holding the knife insistently at his side. "It would only take me seconds at most."

"If you were truly convinced that you needed to silence me, you would have already done it," Lelouch replied. "Besides, aren't you at all curious to know why I of all people would oppose Britannia?" He shrugged. "But if I'm wrong about any of this, then go ahead. If we can't work together, then nothing will change. It would make everything that we just went through meaningless. Is leading an existence where nothing can change really living? Or is it no different than being dead?"

Kallen tensed slightly, and he was certain that he had struck a chord. From how Kallen had reacted to them earlier, he knew that there had been truth in Shadow Villetta's words. Kallen had been prepared to throw her life away in a battle that she couldn't hope to win, because there was little else left that she had to live for.

"You said… you had lost someone too, right?" Kallen began slowly. "Or was that just a lie? Maybe you were just trying to use us to save your own neck, and thought you could tell me whatever I wanted to hear?"

"I meant what I said, Kallen." He sharpened his own tone, though he kept his volume low, so that only she could hear him. "I find your behavior now strange. You were fine fighting alongside me earlier in the Metaverse, even though you could tell that I was Britannian. You even suspected who I was. But as soon as you knew for sure that I was your classmate, your first thought was to threaten me." He let out a chuckle. "Then again, who would believe that the apathetic Student Council Vice President, who rarely pays attention in class and always used to sneak off to go gambling, would harbor a passionate hatred for his own country?"

He leaned in closer, looking directly into her eyes so that she could clearly see the conviction in his own.

"Then again," Lelouch mused, "It's almost as unbelievable as the shrinking violet really being a formidable fighter. We both wear masks, not only in the Metaverse, but this world as well. I guess we're more similar than either of us thought, Kallen. So why shouldn't we work together to destroy the Empire that we both hate? Loathe as I am to admit it, I can't do it on my own, even with my powers. But there's strength in numbers, isn't there? You can get a lot more done with three people than just two. Besides, it never hurts to have someone else watching your back. So let's keep each other's secrets safe, and not say a word of this to our classmates."

Kallen slowly lowered her knife. "Hmph! Fine! But don't think I won't act if I find out you've deceived me. As you've seen, I'm not some fragile wallflower, and nor am I afraid to get my hands dirty if I have to." She gestured with the hand that wasn't holding the knife, raising her fingers so that they inches away from his throat and drawing them across it. Her meaning was obvious. "I could put you or any other Britannian at this school in a world of hurt if I have to... even if I have to act like a freaking invalid most of the time here."

"Of course," Lelouch nodded. "My life is yours should I fail to uphold my end of the bargain. Of course, the deal goes both ways. I'll be counting on you in that world, and I expect that you'll safeguard my secret as well." He let out a harsh laugh. "I'll grant that you'd definitely win in a straight fight, but I've survived far worse than you'd ever suspect from a privileged Britannian student. I have no intention of dying after the hell I've been through."

"You haven't even said what your secret is, save for the fact you lost someone and that you also hate Britannia," Kallen grumbled. She sighed. "I know what that feels like, and I'm sorry for your loss." She shook her head, and bitterness filled her words. "But don't talk to me about living through hell unless you were here on the ground when Britannia was bombing entire cities, or your family was wandering through the ruined countryside afterward, struggling to survive, not even knowing if you would have enough to eat from one day to the next. You were probably still back in the Britannian homeland."

Lelouch shook his head. "No, Kallen, I know exactly what you're talking about. I was here in Japan, and I lived through that same hell."

"Huh?!" Kallen started. "There's no way! What would you be doing-"

"But shouldn't we be heading back to class?" Lelouch asked, suddenly adopting a much more cheerful tone. "As much as I'd love to continue this chat, Kallen, we're quite late, and I doubt that our absence has gone unnoticed."

"Grrr... You're really going to leave me hanging like that?" Kallen snarled. But after a moment, she sighed, and her posture shifted to assume the meek facade that he had known. "Fine. But I'm going to get a complete explanation out of you, Lelouch, and it had better be sooner rather than later." Her words were soft-spoken, but they still contained the steel of her true self.

"I promise that you'll get it."

Of course, he was lying, a behavior that came naturally to him after years of hiding his true self. He couldn't give Kallen a complete account without bringing up the fact that he was an exiled prince, which he doubted that she would react well to. But there were ways to explain his past... Lying was an art form, and a master of the craft could weave a deception of nothing but the truth...

Just not all of the truth.

xXx

As Lelouch had surmised, their absence had been noticed, though no one else could possibly know that it was due to an unplanned trip into the Metaverse. They had missed lunch and most of the next period as well, precluding the chance for Lelouch to meet with Milly during the school day to share his concerns regarding Shirley's injuries. In the old days, he could skip class with little consequence. But the SSDF had reported his absence to Coach Nu, who not only extended his detention, but assigned a double-length detention to Kallen as well. Kallen's offense should have only merited a regular-length detention at worst, but Lelouch suspected that it was Coach Nu's way of getting back at Kallen for daring not to participate in gym class.

Technically, Coach Nu wasn't even the proper authority for assigning such a detention to Kallen, as Kallen hadn't missed her class and was officially excused from most gym activities. But with the meek facade Kallen maintained at school, she hardly protest the injustice of it loudly.

Moreover, the revelation that Villetta was a spy did much to explain why Headmaster Ruben Ashford seemed to do little in the face of her usurpation of such authority. The old man was wily enough that he almost certainly either knew or suspected Villetta's true role at the Academy, and thus he would outwardly be the model of cooperation, so that his loyalty would be beyond reproach. That show of loyalty would enable him to continue to protect the secret royals in exile whom the Ashfords had sheltered in the years since the war.

The headmaster also hadn't yielded on Suzaku's continued attendance at Ashford Academy. A cynic might say that doing so would upset whichever noble was sponsoring Suzaku, but Lelouch knew that was just a useful excuse that could be offered to Coach Nu. The headmaster was a better man than one who was motivated purely by self-interest, and was simply trying to do the best that he could in a difficult situation.

Lelouch couldn't talk to Kallen during detention, as Coach Nu kept a close watch over them. But while Villetta had an air of hostility toward them, it seemed that she didn't recognize Kallen as being Japanese, nor that either of them been inside of her Palace.

"Fascinating… so the other Villetta knows everything the real one does, but the reverse is not true," Lelouch thought to himself. That was a blessing, though Lelouch wasn't so naive to believe that they were safe from being discovered. Coach Nu was likely to consider anyone who opposed her at Ashford Academy suspicious, and she would focus her investigations on himself and Kallen if she subconsciously realized that they were rebels. Then there was what Shadow Villetta had said about planning to frame Suzaku, which certainly meant it was on the real one's mind as well.

Short of that realization, detention simply seemed to drag on interminably. It was made all the worse knowing that he now had power, and tentative allies in his fight, yet he was still forced to conform to society's rules, at least for the time being.

But finally, it was over.

As they left detention, Lelouch asked Kallen, "Have you thought of joining any clubs?"

She gave him a funny look. "What brought this up?" she asked softly, careful to stay in character for her supposedly sickly self. The SSDF was out in force on campus, conducting its night watch.

"All students are required to be part of at least one club. I think I know one that would be a good fit for you. If you're interested, you can find me at the Student Council Clubhouse after school tomorrow."

"Oh… I see," Kallen replied softly. "I'll try to I can drop by then."

Hopefully, she would see the benefits from having an excuse to meet each other regularly through club activities. Of course, the club in question would be the Student Council. It counted for the purpose of the requirement, and it was the only club at Ashford to which he belonged. He had little doubt that he would be able to persuade Milly to accept a new member.

They split up, Kallen leaving through the Academy's gate to return to her home, while Lelouch proceeded to the Clubhouse. The Ashford family had given him and his sister a small suite as their living quarters in there, along with the assistance of Sayoko Shinozaki, a twenty-four year old Japanese woman who had previously served as Milly's personal maid, and was nothing but efficient in her duties.

"Welcome home, Master," Sayoko, bowing with professional courtesy. "Your sister is waiting for you in the dining room. Dinner has already been prepared for the two of you."

"Thank you, Sayoko," he replied. "I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes. Try as I might, I can't always be there for Nunnally when I want to be, but you always take such good care of her in my stead." He grimaced. "I hope I didn't make her worry... It's already so late, but here you are, on top of things as always."

"I'm sure that she'll be happy to see you, Master Lelouch. "I've already informed her that you would be arriving late tonight."

So Sayoko had gotten wind of his detention. Mentally, Lelouch began preparing himself for the questions that Nunnally would surely ask him.

"You never cease to amaze me with how little gets by you, Sayoko."

"Please, think nothing of it." Sayoko smiled slightly. "I am honored to serve the two of you, and I will never give you anything less than the best of my abilities." She paused. "I shall take my leave now, if you have no further need of me tonight, Master Lelouch."

He nodded. "You've earned it, Sayoko."

He made his away over to the dining room. Stepping inside, he announced, "I'm home, Nunnally!"

"Big brother, you're back!" Nunnally called happily, rolling over on her motorized wheelchair.

The shower of bullets that had killed their mother, Empress Marianne vi Britannia, had struck Nunnally as well, shattering the bones in her legs. Britannian medical science was the most advanced in the world, especially where royalty was concerned, and it had managed to set them back together so that they could have a chance to mend. It had even been able to eliminate most scarring from his sister's wounds and the procedure itself. But in spite of the seemingly miraculous nature of some of its cures, it couldn't fix the damaged nerves that controlled Nunnally's legs, leaving her permanently disabled.

It was a testament to Nunnally's inner fortitude that she had managed to bounce back after the tragedy, still the kindhearted sister he had always known. Yet she still bore mental scars from the attack, and had developed what the doctors believed to be psychosomatic blindness. Since that day, her violet eyes had always been closed, as if shielding her from having to witness the terrors of the world.

"I'm sorry I'm late. I missed you, Nunnally," he told her.

She frowned. It was an expression that he hated to see on her face, since meant that she was sad or disappointed, two things that he didn't want Nunnally to be after all she had gone through.

"I heard you were in detention for skipping class," she said quietly.

"That's only part of the story. Coach Nu didn't like it when I stood up to her for picking on another student."

"You mean Kallen?" Nunnally asked.

"Who told you that?" Had it been Sayoko? Well, gym class had been hours ago, as had been their return from the Metaverse. There had been more than enough time for Sayoko...

"It's going all around the school. They say you came back together." Nunnally paused. "To be honest, I had thought that you would go out with Shirley one day. But I'm happy for you, big brother! Just try to stay out of trouble, and be gentle with her, okay?"

It took Lelouch a moment to make sense of what his sister had just said, absurd as it was.

"Nunnally, you've got it all wrong!" he began in a panic. _That_ was the sort of rumor around about Kallen and himself, and it had spread so quickly?

It took some time to persuade Nunnally that he wasn't actually going out with Kallen, which was made all the more difficult because he couldn't obviously tell her the truth of what had happened in the Metaverse, let alone that such a world existed at all. In the end, he wasn't entirely sure if she believed him, or if she thought that he was just too embarrassed about the whole thing to tell her the truth. But at least nothing obviously supernatural came up in her questions, so he could count that as a win.

In any event, between everything that had happened that day, Lelouch felt exhausted. He finished dinner with Nunnally, but once he returned to his room, he knew that he wouldn't be able to remain awake for long. He had enough wherewithal to briefly check his phone before going to bed, and sure enough, the Metaverse Navigator was back, in spite of him deleting it earlier. But as soon as he laid down, he was out like a light.

xXx

Once again, he awoke to find himself in a dream, in the blue prison that was the Velvet Room.

The young girl, Shi, peered nervously into his cell. "Mr. Inmate's back!" she squeaked.

"It's about time," Tsu said contemptuously, making it clear she still hadn't forgiven him for frightening her sister.

"Welcome back to my Velvet Room, Trickster," Igor said in his deep voice. "Now that you have entered into a contract and taken your first steps into the Metaverse, it is time to continue our conversation from before."

Lelouch stood up, glaring at the bizarre old prison master. "The Metaverse Navigator - was that your doing?"

"Very perceptive," Igor replied, signaling his approval. Igor's mouth was twisted into a demented grin. Then again, Lelouch hadn't seen him use any other expression before, which only made Igor seem more obviously inhuman.

"Yes, I granted that app to those who showed particular potential, so that they might awaken to their powers and become Tricksters who would avert the coming of Ragnarok. I will also grant the Navigator to those who may be useful to you as fellow thieves."

Thieves? It was true that his Persona had manifested as a literary phantom thief, but what exactly would they be stealing? He left that question unsaid though, for Igor's response had brought another question to mind.

"So Kallen's brother was one of those with 'potential'?"

"Ah, yes. But he fell when his rehabilitation had barely begun. What a truly foolish end… I pray that your own rehabilitation is more fruitful."

There was little sympathy in Igor's words, and Lelouch decided that he didn't like the strange old man. Insofar as Ragnarok was somehow connected to his father, his own interests at least partially aligned with Igor's for now. He also needed information on the Metaverse that it seemed only Igor would be able to offer him. But he would not let himself forget who was jailing him in the Velvet Room.

"To that end," Igor continued, his tone now much more pleasant, "Your rehabilitation cannot be undertaken alone. You will find that there are those who you will be able to confide in, and who will lend you their strength in turn. I am pleased to see that you have already begun to make such bonds."

Did he mean…

"Your power is like the number zero, Inmate," Tsu said coldly. "It is empty, practically worthless by itself, fitting of a Fool. You saw how laughably weak your Persona was next to the girl's, didn't you?"

"But zero is also a beginning, from which the Trickster can realize infinite possibilities," Shi continued, timidly at first but gaining conviction as she spoke. "The Trickster is a wild card. Supported by his friends, the Trickster may bring hope where there was none— "

"But he may just as easily bring ruin," Tsu interrupted.

"Indeed, such power may yet give you the means to stop Ragnarok, but only time and the strength that you find from others will tell," Igor concluded.

"Are you three saying… that... the power of... friendship will save the world?" Lelouch asked, bewildered. He shook his head. "You're joking, right? That's just too cliche."

"I am not one to jest over such matters, Trickster," Igor replied. "It is at the core of your ability, and you ignore it at your peril. Yet at the same time, you must take care not to pursue frivolous bonds, for they will do nothing to foster your growth. Instead, you should seek those who have also been robbed of places to belong, and those with strong convictions of morals or faith, with those from many walks of life forming a ring of support around you. In doing so, you will wear many masks, but you will also mature as well."

Igor was serious about this. And that left Lelouch with a dilemma. He would of course do whatever was necessary to hone his newfound power. But that meant finding people that he could open up to. He had made a habit of keeping his secrets close. He could call the members of the Student Council his friends, but with the exception of Milly, who knew his identity as a former prince, and now possibly Kallen, who knew of his Persona ability, he wouldn't consider them confidants.

"I see that this is troubling to you," Igor said, "but I am sure that you will rise to the occasion. Seek out and exploit the talents of whomever you can count as a confidant. Do not hesitate even to make use of my abilities, or else your rehabilitation will falter and be left incomplete."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Fool Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

Wait… did that mean... Was Igor..?

"It appears that a new contract has been forged between us," Igor said with amusement. "I will continue to observe your rehabilitation with great interest, Trickster. And to commemorate this occasion, allow me to bestow a new gift upon you — the ability to tame the lesser Shadows of the Metaverse, and to make their powers your own. Bring me their masks, entrusted to you. Once you have done so, I will reveal my true role as the master of this Velvet Room." Igor paused. "Of course, Shadows rage against intruders to the Metaverse, so you may find it necessary to use force before they are willing to listen to your demands".

The prison bell rang once more.

"It appears that our time here is at an end once again," Igor said, looking up slightly. He turned his gaze back to Lelouch. "Go forth, Trickster, and become the thief that you were meant to be."

Lelouch awoke, this time to reality, though the world seemed far stranger than it had just a day ago. So much had happened to him... As for Igor's advice, he wasn't even sure where to begin. But setting that aside for the moment, his immediate objectives hadn't changed:meet with Milly, introduce Kallen to the Student Council, and return to the Metaverse so he could test the scope of his new powers. Only when he knew that would he be able to use them to defeat Britannia.

On his way to find Milly before their classes began, he encountered Suzaku, heading across the Academy's grounds. His friend's brown hair was messier than it should have been, and parts of his uniform looked scuffed up, giving him a harried look.

"How are you holding up, Suzaku?" Lelouch asked, going over to his friend.

"The same as always, I guess."

Lelouch scowled. The same as always meant that the SSDF was up to its regular abuse of Suzaku, even though his friend would never say anything about it. "Be careful. You know that Coach Nu would love any excuse to get you in trouble." Thinking of what he had heard from her Shadow in the Palace, he lowered his voice. "I wouldn't put staging an incident past her either."

"I'll be careful, but I'd remind you to stay out of trouble yourself, Lelouch," Suzaku replied. "I heard you got detention the other day for skipping class. You really shouldn't - "

"I have no regrets."

"So what was it? Gambling? Or is it true that you were with a girl?"

Lelouch shook his head. "Even you, Suzaku?"

"Hey, we're both around that age, Lelouch. It's totally normal."

What was that supposed to mean? "Don't be so credulous, Suzaku. You know how rumors spread. The whole thing is just a big misunderstanding."

"Is it really?" Suzaku shrugged. "Well, I'll take your word on it for now, Lelouch."

In the distance, the school's first bell rang, indicating that they had just a few minutes remaining before they had to report to homeroom.

An apologetic expression crossed Suzaku's face. "Well, I've got run. There's something I need to take care of before class. I'll catch up with you later!"

Suzaku hurried off.

Lelouch shook his head. Suzaku hadn't always been such a stickler for rules, back when they were at the Kururugi Shrine. If anything, Suzaku had been arrogant, at least at first. It really had been Nunnally who had helped them come closer together. But something had happened to Suzaku since then.

Perhaps it was simply a survival mechanism in the face of Britannian rule. Any Japanese person, especially the son of Japan's former prime minister, who openly failed to bow down their heads and obey would be dealt with most harshly. Or, now that Lelouch was thinking of Suzaku's father, maybe the trauma of Genbu Kururugi's sudden suicide, that ended the war, had been what first changed Suzaku. He couldn't say for sure. He had been concerned with Nunnally's survival above else as they made their way across the ruined countryside, so he had hardly been in the right frame of mind to make accurate judgments of Suzaku's mental state at the time.

Lelouch sighed. He just hated seeing his friend this way.

But he had his own issues to take care of.

xXx

Lelouch was already tired of all the whispering and gossip surrounding his supposed relationship with Kallen, and having to explain it to Nunnally had been more than enough. So when he found Milly, he decided to head her off before she could pounce on the subject, as she surely would otherwise.

"Before we get started, any rumors you may have heard about Kallen and myself are false. But that's not why I'm here. I wanted to speak about Shirley."

"Ahh, I thought I had something juicy to tease you with!" Milly pouted.

Milly was blonde, and for as long as Lelouch had known her, she'd had a curvaceous, well-developed figure that had begun to mature well before most girls her age. He'd never paid overmuch attention to her looks himself, nor fully understood why it was such a big deal, but he would have to be living under a rock to not know that many in the student body considered her to be highly attractive.

What he did understand was that while Milly was undoubtedly spoiled by her grandfather, the headmaster, she was dependable in a way that belied her appearance and upbringing.

Indeed, after a moment, Milly's expression changed, her mirth gone. "This this is serious, isn't it?"

"It is." He proceeded to recount to her how he had noticed bruising on Shirley the day before, and how Shirley had tried to conceal her injuries.

"I'm worried about her," he concluded. "I was wondering if you might have heard of anything that would shed light on her situation."

"I have," Milly said with a frown. "You didn't think I wouldn't notice if my adorable friend on the Student Council was feeling down, did you? Or worse..." Milly added ominously. "From you've told me, 'down' doesn't come close to covering it."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow at that. Milly could be too "friendly" with Shirley at times, making perverted comments like a dirty old man, and she had a tendency to invade others' personal space, sometimes to the point of groping her female classmates when she got too excited, especially with Shirley. Lelouch knew Milly well enough to know that she didn't do it out of any sort of malice, and that she cared deeply and sincerely for all of her friends, but Milly was fortunate that Shirley had never chosen to report her for sexual harassment. Still, it had always rubbed him the wrong way, and it did especially now.

"Anyways," Milly continued, "the swim club is supposed to have a big meet in a few weeks. They've been training hard for it, and Shirley was expected to take part in it. But she hasn't been going to practice lately, and Coach Nu is now threatening to have her kicked off the team if she doesn't return. I was going to tell you about it yesterday, but I couldn't find you on campus when I went looking for you."

Lelouch clenched a fist. Everything that had transformed Ashford Academy into an oppressive mockery of its former self seemed to tie back to Coach Nu. Lelouch had no doubt now that she was pushing her team harder than any of the other students, save Suzaku, whom she hated simply for being Japanese. But somehow, he had the impression that Coach Nu had singled out Shirley for training that was just as harsh, even when Shirley, for all her skill as an athlete, wasn't nearly as strong as Suzaku was.

Why Coach Nu would target Shirley still eluded him. He couldn't imagine that Shirley could be harboring any secrets that would be of interest to a spy like Villetta, or what a girl as kind as Shirley might have done to earn her coach's displeasure. But perhaps the Metaverse would be able give him further insight into the false teacher's cognition upon another visit.

Of course, he couldn't bring that up with Milly, and he had hoped that there would be something they could do about it back at Ashford.

"There has to be something that we can do." Lelouch said, carefully controlling his anger so that he wouldn't raise his voice and create as scene. "If this is at all what I think it is, we can't let it go on."

"I know," Milly sighed, "but if we're bringing an accusation against a teacher, we need real evidence... especially considering the influence she's managed to gain over the school. And I can't exactly ask you to spy on the girls' swim practice, even as my Vice President, can I? You've already managed to get yourself in hot water with Coach Nu."

Milly was right there. "I assume you've already tried speaking more to the other members of the swim team?" Lelouch asked.

"Yes," she nodded, "but they stop talking to me when I try to press them on it. Grandfather used to give me a lot of sway to do what I wanted here, no mater how silly it was, but now, when I know that something's wrong, I can't do anything about it! It's so frustrating!"

Lelouch had already come to the same conclusion. At this rate, nothing would be done about it, Coach Nu would remain untouchable, and Shirley would continue to suffer.

That was unacceptable. Coach Nu would pay if she was harming Shirley in any way.

"I guess we'll just have to do the best we can to support Shirley though this," he said with a shrug, concealing his true thoughts.

"Yeah… that's what friends are for," Milly said with a forced smile. She was trying to stay upbeat and keep everyone's spirits up in her own way, but it was clearly taking its toll on her.

"On an unrelated note, since Kallen's attendance has been steadier lately, she really should join a school club," Lelouch continued, trying to seem casual. "I was thinking that she would fit in well on the Student Council."

Milly's eyes lit up. "Oh, so it is true! Trying to keep your new girlfriend close, Lelouch? But what would Shirley think?"

"I told you, it isn't like that," Lelouch said firmly. "As I was trying to say, Student Council work wouldn't be physically demanding on her, and would give her the opportunity to make plenty of new friends. She's been absent so much in the past that I think she's missed out there."

"You're no fun like that, Lelouch," Milly pouted. "But we'd be happy to have her on the Student Council! We can throw a welcoming party for her tomorrow. I'm sure that would help everyone forget their troubles for just a little bit."

"I'll let her know then."

"Don't tell her anything about a party!" Milly urged in a hushed voice. She put a finger over her lips. "Keep it a surprise!"

"You have my word, Madam President."

xXx

Kallen arrived outside the Student Council Clubhouse after school, as she had promised. Lelouch was already there, waiting for her, having returned to the Clubhouse himself as soon as class was over.

"I'm here, Lelouch." Her voice was meek, but it held a faint edge of impatience. Along with how her arms were crossed, it made her come off as rather passive-aggressive. She had to be itching to let her true fiery personality out. "You said that I should join the Student Council. What now? Do I go in?"

Lelouch spied Arthur in the distance behind her, hiding by some bushes.

"The other members will have to put it to a vote, but the President asked me to show you around and go over the duties of the Student Council, to see if you're still interested," he lied. "She'd love to have you on the Student Council though." He paused. "By the way, there was also a history project that I wanted to discuss with you, about the importance of castles to medieval Britannia's feudal system."

There was no such project, but it served to signal his intention to visit the Metaverse with her without mentioning the supernatural or saying something that would more overtly draw the SSDF's suspicion, should any of its members be snooping around.

"Fine," Kallen said, perhaps a bit brusquely for her chosen guise. "Lead the way."

Walking with Kallen and Arthur to an isolated corner of the campus, Lelouch experimentally opened the Metaverse Navigator on his phone. He saw that a set of keywords had been saved to the app's log, and he read them aloud.

"Palace: Castle. Owner: Villetta Nu. Location: Ashford Academy."

The world seemed to momentarily flicker around them, and his phone vibrated in his hand, as if resonating with the keywords. But when the sensation had passed they were still in the real Ashford Academy.

"Do I need any more proof that you're just an amateur at this?!" Kallen asked with clear irritation. "You don't need to say it out loud after the first time! Just start the navigation already, or else I'll do it."

"Quiet!" Arthur hissed. "The last thing we need is one of those overzealous humans hearing us! The Cognitions of them are bad enough in the Palace."

Lelouch didn't answer Kallen's question, but simply selected the destination corresponding to the saved keywords with a touch. He didn't need to be told what to do a second time.

"Beginning navigation," a voice generated by the app announced.

The world distorted around them, the scenery of the real Ashford Academy changing to the hedge mazes and keep of Villetta's Palace. Almost before he realized it, Lelouch found his school uniform replaced by the same long black trench coat, gray waistcoat, red gloves, and white domino mask that he had appeared upon summoning Arsene.

Kallen underwent a similar transformation, her hair instantly spiking up as the lotus petal mask materialized over her face, while her Ashford uniform was replaced by her form-fitting suit. And of course there was Arthur, back with his mask and cape too.

"Time to resume our infiltration!" Arthur said. He glanced up at them. "But first, there's one thing that's been bugging me... Why am I the only one with a code name? I mean, we didn't really need them when there were only two of us, but now… you guys should have ones too." He turned to Kallen. "What about Lotus for you?"

Kallen started to open her mouth, but Lelouch cut her off before she could speak. "That would work, but I have another idea: Q-1."

"Q-1…" Kallen murmured. Her eyes suddenly widened in realization. "The Q-Queen! W-what are you playing at? That had better not be your idea of making a pass at me!"

Lelouch looked at her in confusion. Why were so many people jumping to conclusions today? "The Queen is the strongest piece in chess," he explained slowly, "As you have by far the most powerful Persona out of any of us, I think it suits you quite nicely."

"I'm not the kind of girl that flattery works on!" Kallen glared at him. "And don't tell me: you want to be called 'King'!" Her voice held only contempt at the mere thought of having to call him that.

"I would never patronize you like that," Lelouch replied. "And no… 'King' would be an arrogant title." He smirked as he thought back to the previous night's dream in the Velvet Room. Yes… the name was perfect for him. "I shall be…" He spread his arms wide for dramatic effect, his trench coat billowing out as he did so.

"I shall be Zero!"

"Huh?" Kallen said, looking genuinely surprised. "That's... not at all what I expected from you... For all that build-up, I thought you had something a lot more stuck-up in mind."

"Zero is by itself nothing, but from it all things are possible," Lelouch said, allowing himself to smirk once again. "How better to represent the miracles that we shall create together?"

Kallen groaned. "I take it back… you're still just as full of yourself as I first thought." She paused. "But I do have to admit it sounds kind of cool... almost like one of those masked heroes that they used to have on TV."

"Ah, you mean tokusatsu?" Lelouch asked. "I saw a few of those shows myself, so I can see why you would think that."

Kallen gave him a curious look. "Don't act like you know about that stuff, because if you think you're impressing me, it's not working."

"I know quite a bit more about 'that stuff' than you give me credit for. But we digress. Do you have any issues with calling me 'Zero', Q-1?"

"I didn't agree that you could call me Q-1. I'd much rather be something more than just a letter and a number to you." Kallen paused, realizing what she had said. "No, not in that way!"

Arthur shook his head. "I can tell already: the two of you are going to get along just fine."

"Not helping," Lelouch and Kallen said, to their mutual embarassment, at the same time.

"I told you," Arthur said knowingly.

"Um... anyways!" Kallen said quickly, eager to change the subject. "I have no problem calling you Zero. But why don't you just call me 'Queen' instead then? I mean, it's not a bad name, and if it's easy enough for you."

"As you wish, Queen," Lelouch grinned.

"You know you can just admit that you like the name," Arthur said. "But is it too late to change my codename?" He looked up hopefully. "You've got those great names now, but I'm stuck with -"

"Tama," Zero and Queen said, once more in unison, causing Arthur to deflate somewhat.

"Oh, whatever!" he snapped. "Let's just get moving!"

They left behind a bewildered and terrified Milly Ashford, who had been listening from the other side of the hedge.

What was this place? What were Lelouch and Kallen up to, with that talk of codenames and everything? Normally, she'd be having a field day with it, but she was too freaked out at the moment from suddenly finding herself whisked from the Ashford Academy she knew to a strange place with an otherworldly red sky. And who was that third person with them? They had started talking about some kind of "navigation" when…

"Intruder on the grounds! Capture her!"

 **A/N:**

 **For the next chapter, you can expect some dungeon crawling. And of course, Zero, Queen, and Tama will have to get Milly out of the predicament she's landed herself in!**

 **Edit: Came back to this chapter and made some extensive revisions, fleshing out some scenes and reworking some a bit to try to have Lelouch more in character, and develop some conversations more, as they seemed much too rushed in retrospect. Really, some of these revisions were very long overdue.**


	6. The Prisoners and the Witch

"Nice one, Zero!" Arthur called out.

They had made their way through the hedge mazes surrounding Villetta's castle, successfully avoiding detection. Now, they were once again inside the castle, infiltrating the underground dungeons that Kallen and Arthur had been trying to investigate when he had put the castle's guards on high alert with his jailbreak.

In the confines of the dungeon passages, it was harder to avoid the Baroness' minions, so they had to fight. They had ambushed a Shadow near the entrance, keeping it from raising the alarm, and Lelouch had stunned it with a curse from Arsene, leaving it helpless on the ground.

The Shadow was a pitiful thing, with the form of a tiny woman with short red hair, pointed ears, wearing a blue leotard, gloves, and stockings. Its gossamer wings fluttered weakly, vainly trying to return to the air, but its strength was still drained from Arsene's spell.

"Time to finish it off!" Kallen, alias Queen, urged.

Zero raised a hand, thinking back to Igor's words. "Keep it surrounded, but hold your attack. I want to try something."

"Please, don't hurt me!" The Shadow begged. "I'll give you anything you want if you let me go!"

"Why?" Kallen sneered. "So you can fly off and tell the Baroness where we are?" She raised her metal claws menacingly.

"Eek!" The Shadow covered its face with its tiny hands.

"I doubt that this one's carrying anything of value," Arthur said. "It wouldn't even make much of a morsel."

Kallen looked down at him quizzically.

"What?" Arthur asked. "I'm a cat. Especially when you're a stray, you scavenge what you can."

"The girl wants to maul me and the cat wants to eat me!" The Shadow cried. "Please, sir, have mercy! Surely we can talk this out!"

"Why do you serve the Baroness?" Lelouch asked the Shadow.

"Have you seen how scary the Baroness gets when she's angry? She rules this Castle with an iron fist! If I stepped out of line, she'd throw me in the dungeons, or execute me! Weaklings like myself have no choice but to obey the strong!"

"Would you serve me then?"

"You're pretty strong, what do you think you can do against the Baroness? There's no way you can beat her."

"No. We will beat her, because we must. The Baroness has trampled on the weak for too long, and made dear friends suffer."

"Is one of those friends… a girl?" The Shadow asked.

"Yes," Lelouch replied, thinking of Shirley.

The Shadow's eyes lit up. "That's so sweet! You must be like her knight in shining armor! I'm so jealous! She's lucky to have a guy like you!" Flapping its wings, it happily flew back into the air.

"Zero! What were you thinking? It's going to attack us again!" Kallen hissed.

"No, wait!" The tiny girl cried. "I just remembered something! I'm not really a Shadow! My name's Pixie! I was born in the sea of souls that resides in human hearts, but when this castle formed, I got sucked into it and forgot everything! I'm a part of you, and you're a part of me! I know my mask might not be much, but please, take it! Take me with you, and save the girl!"

Light gathered around Pixie, and then there was a flash. When the light cleared, Pixie had inexplicably turned into a mask, which was then drawn in toward Lelouch's own mask before vanishing in blue flames.

"Wait! What did you just do to that Shadow, Zero?" Kallen asked in confusion.

"Did he…" Arthur started.

Grinning, Lelouch gripped his mask and ripped it off, instinctively knowing what to do.

"Pixie!" he called out.

The tiny winged girl briefly appeared before Lelouch, fluttering above him but bound to him by ethereal blue chains, before vanishing once more.

"He turned that Shadow into his Persona!" Arthur exclaimed.

"It…. Can't be!" Kallen gasped. "That's the same power that…" Her voice trailed off, choked with emotion.

"It's the same power that your brother used!" Arthur finished for her.

"Naoto…" Kallen murmured. Lelouch saw a distant look in her eyes, wistful yet filled with admiration. It had to be for her brother, but her gaze was locked on him.

"I'm not your brother, Queen," he said gently.

"I… Of course I know that!" she snapped. Then her voice softened. "But one's Persona ability is a reflection of their heart. For you to have the same ability as my brother… I think I may have misjudged you, Zero… Though…"

"I still haven't told you exactly who I lost to Britannia, or why I was in Japan at the time of the invasion, and thus there remains seeds of doubt that prevent you from fully trusting me. There's the fear that everything I've told you so far could be a lie... is that right?"

"How did you-" Kallen began.

"It was the logical conclusion to make. After all, you've been wary of me from the start." Putting up his hands, he shook his head. "And I have made you wait more than long enough for an explanation. Very well. We can use that safe room that we came across earlier. I'll tell you the whole story there, or at least, everything that's important to know. If I got into all of the details, we could be there for a very long time."

Kallen nodded. "That's fine. We don't have all day to infiltrate this Palace, but I do want to know what your deal really is, Zero." She glanced down. "You don't mind, do you, Tama?"

"Codename aside, not at all," Arthur replied.

They had to slip by several patrols before they reached the safe room, but soon the three of them were gathered inside.

"Okay, let's hear it," Kallen said.

"As you wish," Lelouch replied. "To make a long story short, I'm ex-nobility. When I was ten, the manor in which we lived was broken into by unknown attackers, who murdered my mother and left my sister crippled. Officially, the authorities deemed that it was the work of terrorists, but even then I knew that couldn't be true. My mother had more than her share of enemies among the nobility, and the attack was too well targeted against her for it to be anything other than an assassination."

He left out the fact that his childhood home had been more than just a mere manor, but the Aries Villa, the residence of an Imperial Consort, a small palace in its own right... though not the sort of Palace they were presently investigating. He also knew that revealing that his mother had been murdered wouldn't be enough for Kallen to tell who he really was; infighting among the nobility was common, and was further encouraged by his father's social Darwinist ideology.

"That's awful..." Kallen said. She glanced to a side. "I wouldn't want anyone to lose their parents that way... even if they were Britannians." She looked up again. "But what's that got to do with you being in Japan during the war?"

"I'm getting to that." Lelouch scowled. "For someone who supposedly loved my mother, my father acted like he barely cared at all." He let his face contort in genuine hatred. "When I dared to question him about it, he decided that my sister and I were more useful to him elsewhere. In other words, we had become inconvenient to him, and he couldn't tolerate the idea that we might try to stand up to him."

"So not only did he cast her aside, he had her killed," Kallen said, clenching a fist. "That's what you think, right? But why would he have his own wife murdered?"

"That's correct, Queen," he replied. "I never was able to find definitive proof that he was the one behind her death, and nor can I say for certain what his motives were in doing so. But I think I have an idea. Like us, she had become inconvenient to him."

Lelouch paused, weighing whether to make a certain gambit or not. Yes, he would. Kallen could draw her own conclusions. "You see, she had been a commoner..."

"So the other nobles hated her for marrying into the nobility," Kallen said. Her expression turned to a grimace, and oddly, a twinge of pain seemed to cross her own face. "Don't tell... he remarried... to someone of a 'pure' noble lineage."

"You could say that," Lelouch replied. "My mother wasn't his first wife, and he'd already been seeing other women." Specifically, the Emperor had been seeing his other Imperial Consorts. Marianne vi Britannia had been one out of one hundred and eight women married to the Emperor. But again, there was no need to tell Kallen that right now. He could let her think it was just a typical case of marital infidelity.

"Yet another reason why I hate Britannians..." Kallen grumbled.

"Yeah, his father's definitely a nasty piece of work," Arthur added.

"That's not even all of it," Lelouch said bitterly. "He sent us to the home of a... business associate of his in Japan." If politics could be considered a business, then that was true in a manner of saying, with Genbu Kururugi acting as fellow head of state. "Officially, it was as a gesture of goodwill between them. But my father had contacts within the military." Rather, his father had and still held ultimate authority over Britannia's armed forces. "He had to know that Britannia was gearing up for war, and he stood to profit from it too." Lelouch clenched a fist tightly. "And it was the perfect way to dispose of my sister and myself, in such a way that not only would his own hands would appear clean, but our deaths would be blamed on our Japanese hosts."

"Ugh..." Arthur said. "Talk about cold."

"We lived in Japan for a year before the invasion. Looking back on it, in spite of everything that had happened, the memories I made in that year are ones that I'll always cherish." Lelouch met Kallen's gaze firmly. "It opened my eyes to the world outside of Britannia, and I was even able to make my first real friend here. And then..."

He trembled with anger. "I knew what kind of man my father was, but then Britannia itself came and made its brutality all too clear. The place that we were staying at was bombed, as were the surrounding towns. I saw the devastation firsthand, as I carried my sister across the ruined landscape."

Kallen closed her eyes for a moment, as if sorting out her thoughts.

"What happened to your friend?" she finally asked.

"We got separated," Lelouch said. He didn't think it was wise just yet to mention that Suzaku was that friend, lest that raise awkward questions about why he had been around the son of Japan's last Prime Minister. "But eventually, my sister and I found refuge with the Ashford family. They had been friends of our mother, and agreed to shelter us, while we took on new identities for ourselves as commoners."

He shook his head. That's the short version. "To say that I hold a grudge against Britannia would be an understatement. It's a system run for the benefit of parasitic nobles, like my father. A world ruled by Britannia, in which the weak are mercilessly crushed by the strong, is not one in which my sister has a bright future." He paused, looking her straight in the eyes. "If you still have any doubts, wait until you meet my sister. You'll see her when I introduce you to the Student Council. Then you can judge my story for yourself."

He waited for Kallen to respond. Did she believe his account, understated and selectively presented as it was? He'd been careful to avoid outright lies, so that everything he said might hold the weight of truth, but if she suspected that he had been less than upfront with her, it could end very badly for him. From what he had seen so far, she was pretty sharp, but then again. But he knew that there were other pressing matters on her mind, and that she knew that she could use his help. Even if she was more powerful than himself, a Palace could be an unforgiving place.

"I had no idea, Zero…" Kallen finally said. That was a good sign.

"You wouldn't have," he replied. "Besides you and my sister, the Student Council President is the only other student here who knows my history, and that's just because she's part of the Ashford family." He allowed himself a grin. "So... does that satisfy you, Queen?"

"It does, for now." Kallen replied. "But if I find that you've lied to me... I'll make sure that you regret it."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Ugh, would you just wipe that cocky look off your face?"

"I was thinking," Arthur piped up, "that Zero should be our leader in battle."

"What did yo say, Tama?!" Kallen started.

"Think about it," Arthur replied. "Though your Persona is individually more powerful than either of his, if his ability is truly like your brother's, he'll eventually be able to adapt to any opponent. With a power like that, he's perfectly suited to direct the flow of battle. We'll all work more effectively if he plans our battle strategies and we give him the room to change his Personas as needed. Besides, he seems to have a good head for this sort of thing. Trust me on this. You saw how easily he took charge when we had to fight that guard captain earlier, didn't you?"

Kallen sighed. "Part of me still doesn't like the idea of taking orders from a Britannian. But..." Her voice became thoughtful. "When it came down to it, I didn't even pause to question it in the heat of the moment, even though you had just joined us. So I think..." She forced her next words out quickly. "I think Tama might have a point."

In spite of himself, Lelouch found that he couldn't resist teasing Kallen in that moment. "So my charisma got to you?" he asked.

"Le- Zero! Don't push your luck!" Kallen spluttered. She shook her head. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're a natural leader, Zero. Your words saved me back there, helping me awaken to my true power. So as long as you help me make my brother's dream a reality, I'm willing to follow your lead in battle."

"Very well," Lelouch replied. "I'll make sure that you don't regret the trust you're placing in me, Queen."

xXx

Leaving the safe room, they resumed their infiltration of the Palace. They made rapid progress through the dungeons, making short work of most of the Shadows that they encountered.

Lelouch was able to persuade or coerce several more Shadows into becoming his masks, that was to say, his Personas. He quickly discovered that he was only able to capture one of each type of Shadow as a Persona, though that wasn't much of an issue to him, as he could only have a single Persona active at any given time anyway. But he also found a far more significant limitation on his powers - he could only store about half a dozen Personas in his mask at once, though he could freely switch between them. And that led to the third and perhaps most pertinent drawback of his ability….

While he gained the strengths and skills of whichever former Shadow that he was currently using as a Persona, he also inherited their weaknesses.

The battle in which he learned this lesson had started poorly enough. A Cognitive SSDF member had seen them as they darted from their cover, trying to reach their next hiding place, and had summoned a pair of stronger Shadows, which wasted no time in attacking them. Suzaka Gozen managed to dispatch one of them with a powerful cleave, but Kallen still took a hit, stunned by an ice spell.

Arthur summoned Master Cat to heal her, and that got her back on her feet, but Kallen was still hurt, her expression gritted in pain. Lelouch wasn't sure if she could withstand another hit like that, but Pixie also had healing spells. Summoning the tiny winged Persona, he cast one of his own, and Kallen seemed like she was back in fighting shape.

But then the surviving Shadow cast a curse spell. The black and red tendrils of Eiha piercied through Lelouch, and he dropped to his knees in agony. The spell caused no outward physical damage to his body, but he suddenly felt weak, as if some of his life force had been violently ripped from him. Was this pain what the Shadows felt every time Arsene cast the same spell?

It wasn't the first time they had encountered a Shadow that could cast Eiha, but before he had been using Arsene as his Persona, who was highly resistant to curses. Back then, all he had felt when exposed to Eiha had been a mildly nauseous sensation, with most of the spell dispersing before it could harm him. But Pixie was highly vulnerable to curses, and by extension, so too was Lelouch now.

"Zero!" Kallen called out in alarm.

Taking advantage of the group's momentary disarray, the Shadow charged Arthur, clearly trying to force them to scatter. However, Arthur nimbly darted to the side, and not meeting the expected resistance of the cat's body, the Shadow stumbled.

Kallen wasted no time. "Suzuka Gozen! Frei!" Her Persona dispatched it with a quick burst of nuclear energy.

"Are you okay, Zero?" she asked, helping him to his feet with a gloved hand.

"I'll live." He scowled. "Those Shadows almost got the best of us, but I learned a valuable lesson from it. I'll be more careful in the future."

Master Cat appeared once again, and Lelouch felt some of his strength return to him.

"That's better. Thank you, Tama."

"I think we're almost at the bottom of the cellblock," Arthur said, sniffing the air. "Not only have the enemy patrols been increasing down here, but I smell several people beyond that door. Of course, they're probably just Cognitions, but they must represent people that the Baroness considers important if she has them imprisoned here."

"Let's take a look then," Lelouch replied. With any luck, they would find answers within the dungeons.

Taking care to open the door without letting it creak, Lelouch led his accomplices inside.

What they saw before them wasn't an ordinary cell.

It was an Olympic-sized swimming pool, like the one the Swim Club practiced in, locked behind bars. Insides, there were a number of girls, dressed in Ashford's blue competition swimsuits, frantically swimming against an artificial current. A number of knights patrolled the edges of the pool, while others paced along catwalks over the pool, each wielding a long whip.

"Put some effort into it, girls!" One knight said, lashing its whip at a swimmer who was tiring and being pushed back by the current, causing her to scream out in pain. "Cry all you like, you'll have it worse if the Baroness sees this sorry excuse for practice!"

"Second place will not be tolerated!" another knight shouted, whipping another girl for good measure. "For the glory of the Baroness!"

Kallen was just about ready to summon Suzuka Gozen to break down the bars and teach those knights a lesson, but Lelouch held out a hand to stop her.

"We're already tired from the fights on the way here. If you make a scene, more Shadows will converge here, and we may not be able to escape."

"But-!"

"I know it seems heartless, but you have to remember, those girls are just Coach Nu's Cognitions of the swim team. There's no sense in you risking your life for them. But you already knew that, didn't you, Queen? You were the one who killed that Cognition of an SSDF without a second thought, because you knew that they weren't real."

Kallen clenched a fist, but she relented.

"We knew Villetta was ambitious and that she yearns for a title of nobility, but I didn't imagine that she would be so petty," Lelouch said contemptuously once he was sure that Kallen wouldn't do something rash.

"No kidding," Arthur whispered. "This shows that her desires have become distorted to the point that she'll advance herself by any means, no matter how amoral. If she can't attain a noble rank while at Ashford Academy, then she'll distinguish herself as the Coach of a winning swim team, forcing its members to undergo training that would be better described as torture."

"It's no wonder that Shirley was bruised then, and that she stopped attending practice," Lelouch said, keeping his anger simmering below the surface, even as it threatened to boil over. "She probably feared retribution from Villetta if she spoke out about it."

"My nose tells me there are still other cells in this block," Arthur said. "We should check them out while we're here."

Lelouch and Kallen nodded, and they were on their way. Heading down a staircase, they soon arrived at the next cell: detention.

It was nowhere as horrific as the swim club's cell had been, but it was still distorted nonetheless.

A number of students were in the cell, chained down by heavy iron balls. Some were at their desks, guiltily keeping their heads down, while others were at a chalkboard, mindlessly writing lines.

"I will not disobey the Baroness again. I will not disobey the Baroness again. I will not disobey the Baroness again…" On and on it went.

Lelouch sensed Kallen freeze behind him. "Wait a moment - that's me!" she gasped.

"It looks like you're not alone," Arthur said. "Lelouch is in there too."

Indeed, Villetta had Cognitions of Kallen and himself in the detention cell.

"What are you doing here?" Villetta's Cognitive Kallen said meekly as she noticed them peering in through the bars. "Are you thinking of trying to free us? Don't bother. There's no use fighting the Baroness. You should just stay quiet and do as you're told, like I do. Besides, I couldn't run even if you opened the door for me. I'm just a fragile flower, beautiful but useless…" The Cognition's words were punctuated by a coughing fit. "A disgrace to my nobility…"

"Don't think you can say that crap with my face!" Kallen snarled at her doppelganger, causing the Cognition to cower in fear. The real Kallen then turned to her companions, and shook her head in frustration. "I don't get it. Why does Coach Nu have such a Cognition of me if her Shadow knows who I really am?"

"I'd guess it's because only the real Coach Nu can establish the Cognitions that appear in her Palace, even if she isn't aware of doing so," Arthur replied. "Her Shadow rules over the Cognitions, and can recreate them if they're killed, but the Palace ruler can't fundamentally change whatever Cognitions her conscious self comes up with. That's the image of you that the real Coach Nu has of you in daily life, and you did earn yourself a detention the other day. Between that and not participating in her gym classes, that caused her to label you as troublesome, and so there your Cognitive double is that cell."

"Why, how rude!" Lelouch's voice said from within the cell, though Lelouch hadn't actually spoken. It was Villetta's Cognitive Lelouch. Striding over, the Cognition cradled Cognitive Kallen with an arm, and then lifted her chin with a pair of fingers, so that she was gazing into his eyes. "Did that woman hurt you, my delicate flower?"

"Oh, Lulu…" Cognitive Kallen said in a simpering tone, calling him by the nickname that normally only Shirley used.

Smirking, Cognitive Lelouch leaned in and captured Cognitive Kallen's lips with his own.

"What?!" the real Kallen said, the exposed parts of her face turning beet red.

"This rumor has clearly taken on a life of its own," the real Lelouch scowled.

"We… shouldn't… not… here…" Cognitive Kallen moaned between kisses.

"Why not? We're in detention because we don't care about the Baroness' rules…" Cognitive Lelouch whispered back to her.

Cognitive Kallen shuddered and fainted, a blissful look upon her face.

"Poor girl… I guess her constitution couldn't handle that much excitement after all," Cognitive Lelouch smirked. "Still, another conquest to add to the list… Shirley… Milly…. Miss Stadtfeld is only the latest girl to be wrapped around my thumb."

"It looks like Villetta's got you pegged as a womanizer, Zero," Arthur said, snickering.

"I am not a womanizer," Lelouch replied irritably.

"But none can compare to my dear little sister, Nunnally…" the Cognition continued. "The things we do alone together…"

Kallen gave Lelouch a nasty look.

"It's true I dote on Nunnally… but Villetta thinks I have that sort of a relationship with my sister?" Lelouch said, scandalized. "The very thought is absurd!"

"Hey, you in the trench coat!" Cognitive Lelouch called out. "I don't know about you, but the guard is going to be back in a few minutes. I wouldn't just hang around here if I were you."

"We'll be on our way then," Lelouch said, leaving the mortifying scene behind with all practical haste.

"He helped us?" Kallen asked.

"Coach Nu sees me as a troublemaker, so of course her Cognitive version of me has no love for the Baroness. He said as much himself. She got that part of me right, even as the rest is just a mockery of the real me."

"Well, you heard him," Arthur said. "We have just a few minutes, so let's making checking out these last cells quick."

The third cell had just a single prisoner in it - Shirley Fenette. Or rather, it was Villetta's Cognitive Shirley.

But that made the scene no less infuriating to Lelouch.

Cognitive Shirley was restrained in wooden stocks. She was wearing the same blue competition swimsuit that the other swim club members had, but hers was in tatters, and her back was raw from repeated whipping. Her long, coppery red hair had been cut short, the fallen tresses lying dirtied on the floor around her.

"Shirley!" Lelouch called out. Intellectually, he knew that the girl before him wasn't the real Shirley, but she _looked_ real enough, and the suffering the Cognition had been made to endure provoked a visceral response from him.

"Lulu…" she said weakly, sounding just like her counterpart from the real world. "Is that you?"

"Shirley, why is she doing this to you?" Lelouch felt himself trembling, and he knew that his emotions were getting the better of him, but what was important now was gathering information.

"I was the star of the swim team… until I betrayed them when I stopped going to practice… this is my punishment, Lulu," Cognitive Shirley replied. "But I deserved it. I have for a long time. I was too naive. I should have realized earlier that the Baroness never liked me. I should have known better than to be friendly to an Eleven. And I was also in love… with you, Lulu… As foolish as she says that is, I don't think she's ever truly felt that way about anyone else. She was envious that I had something that she didn't."

It was such a stupid, petty reason to torment Shirley, and it made his blood boil.

"But why is your hair cut like that?" he asked, forcing himself to remain in control, lest an outburst lead guards their way.

"She said that it slows me down in the water," Cognitive Shirley replied miserably. "But the Baroness is very proud of her looks. Lots of girls at Ashford wish that they had hair like hers, you know, with how long, and lustrous, and all neatly held in place it is. But one day, she overheard some girls on the swim club saying that my hair was even more beautiful than hers. She didn't like that at all, so my hair had to go."

Of course, the real Shirley hadn't been forcibly shorn of hair, and the Cognition was actually an aspect of Coach Nu's psyche, tied to, or perhaps even an extension of her Shadow, albeit a part of it that wasn't actively hostile them. But that meant that it was an accurate reflection of the real Villetta's thoughts toward Shirley.

Both the pain his friend had already silently endured and the harm that Villetta wished that she could inflict upon Shirley were on full display here.

Lelouch clenched a fist, and reached out with his other hand past the bars the bars of the cell, toward Cognitive Shirley, though it was ultimately a futile gesture. "I swear, Shirley… I'll set you free from this nightmare."

"There's nothing you can do, Lulu," the Cognition said sadly, casting its eyes down. "Just go, before the guards come and find you. I'm glad that I got to see you, but you're wasting your time with me."

Lelouch sighed. He knew that the Cognition was right, but he had allowed himself to be too sentimental. Turning, he gave one last glance toward Cognitive Shirley, and then continued down the cellblock with Kallen and Arthur.

"It looks like there's one more cell…" Kallen said quietly.

"I know…" Lelouch replied. "I think I know who's inside."

He was right. It was Suzaku Kururugi, zipped in a straitjacket, waiting on death row. Cognitive Suzaku didn't seem to be making any effort to escape. Of course he wouldn't. Suzaku hadn't stood up for himself at all since coming to Ashford, and so Coach Nu didn't anticipate any resistance from the Japanese youth when she falsely accused him of whatever infraction she had in mind, even if he risked expulsion from it... or worse.

"I've seen enough," Lelouch said, shaking his head. "There's nothing to be gained from conversing with this Cognition. We already know what Villetta has in mind for him. Let's go, before the guards return."

Kallen and Arthur nodded, and they were on their way.

xXx

They managed to retrace their steps through the dungeons without further entanglements with Shadows. But when they reached the ground level, they heard a scream.

"That voice! It sounded like Milly!" Lelouch said. A sudden dread passed over him.

"The Student Council President?" Kallen asked. She may have been out frequently in the past, but one couldn't attend Ashford Academy for any length of time without at least hearing of Milly. "That's impossible! She couldn't have followed us into the Metaverse- "

"Unless she was following closely behind us when we used the MetNav to get here," Arthur interrupted. "The app pulls in everyone around the user. That's how I first ended up in the Metaverse, after all."

"Crap!" Kallen swore. "We got caught!"

"We can worry about that later!" Lelouch said quickly. "She needs our help, now! Or are you just going to let her die?" He knew that unless by chance Milly managed to awaken to the same power he had, she would have little hope of fighting off the Shadows that lurked in the Palace.

Kallen stared at him for a long moment. He could imagine what was going through her head. Kallen knew of Milly, but she didn't really _know_ her. All Milly would be to Kallen was another Britannian, spoiled more than most. Kallen didn't have any personal stake in helping him save Milly, and if anything would consider Milly to be liability to them. And yet he was asking her to-

"Just how heartless do you think I am, Zero?!" Kallen grimaced. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I? But fine, I'll help you! Besides... it's better that we find out what she knows and if she told anyone else, rather than just leaving her here in the Palace ruler's hands."

Arthur shook his head. "You really are kind, Queen, even if you don't like to show it. I know your brother would approve."

"Thank you, Queen," Lelouch said with sincere gratitude. "Now let's move!"

xXx

Running as quickly as they could in the direction of the voice, they soon found themselves in a small chamber, where Shadow Villetta was commanding a squad of knights. Two of them were holding Milly Ashford in place, while another golden captain, had a sword drawn and pointed threateningly at her.

"Huh?" Milly gasped, as she saw them barge into the room, even as she struggled against the captain's grip. "Who are-?"

The captain pushed his sword forward menacingly, stopping inches from her throat, and Milly fell silent, visibly swallowing.

"Splendid," Shadow Villetta laughed as she turned to face the newly-arrived team of Persona-users, a wicked grin on her face. "I knew the vermin would come running if they heard you scream." She made a glance backwards. "You have my thanks, Miss Ashford. You were the perfect bait, and it was so considerate of you to practically fall into my lap."

"B-bait?" Milly whispered.

"It was a trap... I knew it." Kallen hissed over to Lelouch. She looked up, and began shouting at Shadow Villetta. "Don't you dare look down on us! Or have you already forgotten how we defeated your last captain and his entire squad yesterday? At this rate, you'll be out of subordinates before long!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Shadow Villetta smirked. "Besides, Miss Ashford's life is in my hands. All it would take is a word from me, and I can have her executed for the crime of trespassing."

They heard clanking footsteps behind them, and another platoon of guards appeared, blocking off the corridor that they had come from.

"Yikes! There's no way we can fight off so many, especially when we already had to fight through the dungeons!" Arthur cried.

"Checkmate," Shadow Villetta sneered, and she let out a laugh. Not bothering to make eye contact, she asked, "So… Miss Ashford… which one of these traitors shall I execute first?"

"What are you talking about?"

Shadow Villetta turned suddenly and slapped Milly across the face. "Don't play dumb, Miss Ashford! What do you think would happen to your family if it became known they were harboring spies and other rebels such as these?" she said, gesturing at Lelouch, Kallen, and Arthur. "The Ashford name is already fallen from grace. It wouldn't survive a scandal like that... But if only I could have the sort of wealth and influence your family held in its prime! Now they're so scraping the dregs that they would lower themselves to accept filthy Elevens here. They would even whore you out if it would mean reclaiming their former status!"

Milly's eyes went wide, a mixture of fear and anger in them. And... it was only for the briefest of moments, so quick that Lelouch would have missed if it he had blinked, but he thought he saw her eyes turning a supernatural gold.

Just like when Kallen...

"What, you haven't told them about all those interviews you've been having as your parents try to arrange a marriage for you?" Shadow Villetta asked, leaning in closer to Milly. The Shadow's face contorted. "How I envy you…. you're young and pretty enough that snaring a rich husband should be easy for you. Even in disgrace, you still have a noble pedigree, more than I ever had. Once you're married off, you'll be able to continue playing the part of the pampered, spoiled, brainless princess once more, though that's far above your actual station. To see how the whole school used to bend over to satisfy your every childish whim… it was infuriating!" Shadow Villetta seethed. "But I've put a stop to that!" Villetta laughed once more, high and cruel. "This is my castle now, Miss Ashford!"

"No... I..." Milly started weakly, averting her eyes from Shadow Villetta. The Palace ruler's remarks had clearly struck all too close to home for her. "That's..."

"You talk too much, Coach Nu," Lelouch cut in defiantly, raising his voice so that Milly was sure to hear him.

"What?" Shadow Villetta demanded, her malevolent golden gaze turning to fix itself on him.

"You never learn, do you?" he smirked. "You've just given Milly every reason she needs to fight back against you."

"Fight back?" Milly murmured distantly, still not making eye contact with any of them. "If I could, I would, but h-ow!" She let out a pained gasp as the captain roughly punched her in the stomach with an armored first.

Milly had enough reasons to fight back already, but she lacked a belief in her own power to change her fate, that much was clear. It was hard to blame her for that. She may have stumbled into the Metaverse, but Milly still had no way of conceiving that the power of one's rebellious spirit could be made manifest here. It was too far outside of her realm of experience. It would seem crazy.

But he wasn't done. Not at all. If Milly couldn't rationally believe that she had any way to take back her freedom, then the key was to overpower that with a desire so strong and so urgent that it simply couldn't be denied, consequences be damned. It might be a gamble, but after seeing what had happened to her eyes, he as sure that it would work. It had to work!

Lelouch didn't flinch at all under Shadow Villetta's hateful gaze, and let out a scornful laugh. "If she could only see exactly how you've been abusing Shirley and the swim club for your own selfish gain... I know that she'd find the strength within herself to oppose you, no destroy you! If you're not afraid of that, Coach Nu, then you should be. You made a mistake bringing her here, just so that you could gloat, but if you were smarter, you would have killed her when you had the chance!"

"You dare lecture me?!" Shadow Villetta raged. "Once again, you forget your place! The only value this school and everyone in it has is for my own advancement! Miss Ashford here is still of some use to me, but I can have her executed with just a word if I feel like it! Those girls on the swim club shouldn't complain so much, either. Who will they have to thank when they win every major competition this year? I simply brought the best military methods into my training. If they can't toughen up, they have no right to be on my team, let alone live!"

Shadow Villetta's voice lowered for a moment. "And as for Miss Fenette... she rubbed me the wrong way, with all of her sickening idealism. The world doesn't work that way!" the Shadow roared. "She should be grateful that I've been beating some sense into her!"

"W-what?!" Milly shouted at Shadow Villetta, trembling furiously. "H-How... Dare you!" She began straining against the knights that held her, kicking and screaming with all of her might. "I don't know how... but I... won't... let you... Harm my friends again!"

"Just a moment ago, she didn't have any fight left in her!" Shadow Villetta snarled. "Where did this come from? No matter. Guards-"

"What did I just tell you, Coach Nu?" Lelouch smirked as he interrupted her. "I guess this is the downside of being a Shadow. You act on instinct, and can't control your own impulses even when you would be better served by doing so."

"What are you blabbering on about?"

"I told you: you've given her every reason she needs to fight back... And then some. Now, it's too late for you to do anything about it. You just couldn't resist having the final word with me, could you, Coach Nu?" He let out a shout, no longer speaking to Shadow Villetta but calling out to Milly. "Don't hold anything back, Milly! At this moment, you're more powerful than you've ever thought possible! Seize back control of your destiny! It's all in your hands now! Don't let her tell you otherwise!"

"To hell with her!" Milly shouted. "I'll do whatever it takes! I'm sick of people like her telling me what to do!"

There was a sudden gust of wind, and the knights holding Milly were thrown back violently. An ornate mask had appeared on her face, one that might be worn to a high-class masquerade, black and glittering with intricate patterns in golden thread, and with tiny diamonds set into its surface.

Through the holes in the mask, Lelouch could see that Milly's eyes were definitely golden now.

"Not again!" Shadow Villetta gasped.

"I've been waiting for this. No longer shall you simply sit back and watch helplessly," a seductive female voice said, echoing through the chamber. "What good is simply being a Student Council President if you cannot help your friends when they need it most? And who needs to be shackled down in an unhappy arranged marriage? You just want to be free, and to have fun and excitement in your life. So let us make a contract: I am thou… thou I art… Together, we'll cast a spell on the world..."

With a scream, Milly ripped off her mask, sending a spray of her own blood splattering onto the walls.

A figure appeared above her, draped in a long purple robe, and its face hidden by a black cowl that extended into a cloak that swirled in the wind surrounding Milly. At the same time, Milly's Ashford Academy outfit was transformed, becoming a tight-fitting black cat costume, like one of the outfits Milly had been prone to dressing in for her wacky festivals, but of much higher quality, its top made of black silk velvet, giving it a soft sheen.

Unlike Kallen's Metaverse outift, Milly's did not cover her entire body. Milly had tall high-heeled black leather boots with a fluffy pink trim, which terminated halfway up her thighs, and her top tapered off at the bottom like a one-piece swimsuit, revealing some of her buttocks. A white patch was cut into the suit around the chest, snugly hugging and drawing attention to her bust, which was even larger than Kallen's. The cat look was completed by pawed gloves, a headband with fake ears, a fake tail, and whiskers painted on her face.

"What a meow-velous costume!" Arthur exclaimed.

A weapon had materialized in Milly's hands as well, a whip. She gave it an experimental flick, and smiled wickedly, giving even Lelouch a sudden chill.

"GUTS! Time to do this, Medea!" Milly shouted. She held out a pawed glove. Her Persona, Medea, mimicked the motion, and held out her staff, enveloping nearby Shadows in flames.

Shadow Villetta was already making her retreat as the situation rapidly spiraled out of her control. "Captain!" she shouted. "Prove yourself worthier than your predecessor! Do not fail me!"

"Your word is my command, Baroness!"

The golden knight transformed, becoming a hideous bearded demon… seated on a toilet? Vaguely, Lelouch recalled seeing an illustration of such a demon once in a book, and he recalled its name… Belphegor.

"Let's make this quick…" Belphegor said. "I don't like having to work hard."

"It'll be quick alright!" Kallen shouted back. "Suzuka Gozen!" Her Persona rushed forward, grabbing Belphegor by the head, and blasted it with nuclear energy. But a moment later, Belphegor swatted Suzuka Gozen away.

"That stung, but you'll have to do far better than that, girl!"

"My attacks - they're not working?!" Kallen gasped.

"It's resistant to nuclear spells!" Lelouch called out. "It seems the Baroness learned something from yesterday after all!"

Belphegor raised a hand, and tiny ice crystals began to form in the air around Kallen.

"Queen! Watch out!"

Kallen dodged with just a moment to spare as a block of ice solidified where she had been a second ago.

That was bad. Lelouch didn't yet have a Persona resistant to ice. Indeed, Arsene, Pixie, and Jack O'Latern, whom he had also acquired in the dungeons, were all highly susceptible to the element, as was Kallen's Suzuka Gozen. Shadow Villetta had chosen her new Captain well indeed. He would do well not to underestimate her in the future.

"Queen, hang back and switch to support! Tama, probe its defenses for a weak point!"

"Got it, Zero!" From a safe distance, Kallen summoned Suzuka Gozen, casting Tarukaja on Arthur, a spell that would temporarily boost his strength.

"Master Cat!" Arthur shouted The ginger feline appeared and stabbed twice with its rapier, causing Belphegor to howl in pain.

"It seems physical attacks work just fine!" Arthur reported.

"We can wear him down that way, but not quickly enough," Lelouch said hurriedly.

"You will pay for that!" Belphegor bellowed.

"Everyone, brace yourselves!"

The temperature in the room rapidly dropped, as Belpehgor cast Mabufu - a wide area ice spell. It wasn't enough to take them out, but Kallen was knocked to the ground, and Lelouch felt chilled to the bone.

"This…. isn't… good… Zero…." Kallen said, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"Perish!" Belephegor roared, readying another spell.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting little old me?" a teasing voice said from behind the demon.

"What?" Belphegor roared, looking from side to side quickly.

"Surprise! Agi!" Milly yelled. A burst of flame struck Belphegor, sending him tumbling from his porcelain throne. She then cracked her whip, lassoing it around Belphegor, and drove her heel down into his back, preventing him from getting up again.

"What are you waiting for? He's all yours!" Milly called.

"He is indeed," Lelouch said, shaking off the chill of Belphegor's spell. Kallen scrambled back to her feet as well.

"Everyone, charge!" Lelouch ordered.

Arthur clawed and slashed at as the Shadow flailed its arms wildly. Lelouch switched to Jack o'Latern, who spewed flames at Belphegor, causing the demon to shriek in agony. Then Kallen delivered the coup de grace, summoning Suzuka Gozen, who swung her blade to chop off Belphegor's head in a single stroke.

The Shadow's headless body broke apart and vanished. Villetta's second captain was no more.

As the adrenaline of her awakening wore off, Milly's legs gave out from under her, but Lelouch was there to break her fall.

"Lelouch… that's you, isn't it?" she ask wearily. "I'd recognize your voice anywhere, and you were always a gentleman." Slowly, she managed to rise again, and Lelouch let go of her. "So that means… the redheaded girl is Kallen, right?" She shook her head. "What's happening here?"

"That's what we'd like to know," Kallen said testily, putting her hands at her sides. "You were spying on us, weren't you? That's how you were close enough to get sucked into the Metaverse!"

"So that's what you call this place…. But you have it right," Milly admitted. "I was sure Lelouch wasn't giving me the whole story about your relationship, so I thought I could get myself a juicy bit of gossip if I followed you." She shook her head again. "I'm such an idiot. I got myself in way over my head and almost was killed for something as stupid as that. But how could I have known?"

"What are we going to do about her, Zero?" Kallen asked.

"We can trust Milly, Queen. She might like gossip, but she knows when to keep quiet. She's had years of practice at it."

"Yeah… your secret is safe with me! Who would believe such a story anyways?" Milly laughed nervously.

"If you're sure, Zero…" Kallen replied hesistantly.

"But wow… you two really look great," Milly breathed. "If only you'd wear such costumes to my events... Lelouch, the dapper and dashing gentleman thief, and Kallen, his Queen and surprisingly fierce partner in crime, showing off a toned body under that tight rubber suit-"

"Hey! Knock it off!" Kallen demanded irritably. "I'm Queen here, not _his_ Queen! It's after the chess piece, because I'm the strongest out of us, got it?"

"Oh... so feisty..." Milly chuckled. "Between that attitude and how well you were fighting a moment ago, I guess you weren't as sick as you seemed."

"I'm full of surprises," Kallen said brusquely. "And don't go on about my outfit again when you have something so shameless on! That's something you'd find in a guy's sick fantasies! But I'll have you know that my suit is based on those that Knightmare Devicers wear. With the acceleration that a Knightmare Frame can achieve in the hands of a really skilled pilot, there's a risk that they might lose consciousness from excessive g-forces. It's tight-fitting around the abdomen and legs to reduce the flow of blood away from the brain. It's only people who can't get their minds out of the gutter who make anything more of it!" She gave Lelouch a dirty look.

She wasn't letting that go, was she? He hadn't even meant to gawk at her back then.

Deciding to divert Kallen's displeasure from himself, he shrugged, and said, "Queen, are you sure you want to keep arguing this point with someone who has _that_ as her idea of a rebel?" He gestured toward Milly's outfit.

"I mean, what was I supposed to say?" Milly pouted. "If it hadn't been a life-or-death situation, and I saw the two of you wearing those outfits, I'd think the two of you were having some sexy role-playing tryst together."

"I told you, knock it off!" Kallen snapped. "Anyways, what's your excuse for that... outfit?"

"I'd guess I'm a cat burglar," Milly said. She playfully waved one of her fake paws. "Meow meow?"

"Oh, my…" Arthur said. He bounded over to Milly, who caught him and held him against her chest, causing him to purr contentedly.

"Oh, you're definitely friendly cat… but... I don't think I've met one who could talk before," she said quizzically. "Between that, stumbling into an otherworldly castle, and summoning a witch as my Persona... I didn't hit my head or anything, did I?"

"Nope! This is all real. I'm Arthur. Pleased to meet you!"

"Well, that's a relief," Milly sighed. "I'm already acquainted with Lelouch and Kallen, but I think you and I are going to be good friends, Arthur. Now would one of you fill me in on what exactly's going on here?"

xXx

"I see…" Milly said after their explanation. "So this really is another world, and it's a reflection of Coach Nu's heart. With what you've told me about the swim club, and what I heard from Coach Nu's Shadow, it's even worse than I thought. There has to be something we can do to stop her. But again, who would believe us if we tried to tell them what we saw here?"

"You're taking all of this way too easily," Kallen said.

"That's Milly for you," Lelouch replied. He turned back to Milly. "We'll find a way. But we should get out of here while we still can. I think we've all been pushed to our limits today."

"I agree," Arthur said. "Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor. There's no sense in getting ourselves killed because we tried to rush things before we were ready for them."

"Let's meet tomorrow," Milly said, "after the Student Council wraps up its business for the day. We'll figure it out together!" She paused. "By the way, welcome aboard, Kallen! You too, Arthur! You can be our honorary mascot! We've gone without one for the longest of time."

"You're sure about this?" Lelouch asked her. "It's more than just your life on the line if you work with us, you know."

"I can't ignore this anymore," Milly replied. "After too long, I finally have the power to help my friends again. And I'm certainly not about to let you two have all the fun together. Odd as it seems, it doesn't feel like it's a coincidence that I stumbled into this world after you. I have to see this through."

"I wouldn't call it 'fun'," Lelouch replied. "But it's good to see that you're as reliable as ever." He paused. "I know that you won't talk in my case, but I want to emphasize that you shouldn't mention this world, or Queen's involvement in it, to anyone else, not even in jest. Promise me that, and we'll have ourselves a deal."

"Deal!" Milly agreed.

They departed together, but as they did so, words echoed in Lelouch's mind.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Fortune Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

Where would this new partnership lead? He had never planned to involve Milly in his rebellion… but it seemed that she could prove a valuable ally…

 **A/N: This story, like Persona 5, is M-rated for a reason. The distortions of the Palaces, exemplifying the Deadly Sins, can be pretty messed up. Hopefully the descriptions of how Shadow Villetta has been torturing her prisoners isn't so graphic that it turns those who have been following away from the story, but I didn't want to sugarcoat things either.**

 **Villetta wouldn't be the first one to mistake Lelouch for a womanizer or a siscon. In one of the sound dramas, Shirley even has a daydream in which she imagines that Lelouch is declaring that he and Nunnally are getting married, though she shortly thereafter dismisses the whole scenario as crazy.**

 **When I started writing this story, Milly was an obvious parallel to Ann/Panther, with her obvious sex appeal, and that Milly canonically wears a cat costume at one point in the show was just icing on the cake. However, she also shares aspects of her background with another P5 character, also alluded to in this chapter. Also of note is that her Arcana is different from either of these characters - she's not the Lovers Arcana, as Ann is, but Fortune, for reasons that should become clearer in time.**

 **Medea - Princess of Colchis, a sorceress in service of the Goddess Hecate. Helped Jason steal the Golden Fleece. In some versions of the story, her fate is twisted by the Gods, and compelled to fall in love with Jason by the arrows of Eros.**

 **I did have Arthur borrow the "Meow-velous" line from Morgana, but it seemed to work. He has every reason to like Milly, especially when she'll be letting him laze around in the Student Council Room and have plenty of good. That she's dressed as a cat is just a bonus. He won't be calling her "Lady Ashford" though.**

 **"GUTS!" is a fictitious spell that Milly sometimes pretends to use in Code Geass, as a way of motivating her fellow student council members.**

 **As for Belphegor, that is the same shadow that was fought during Ann's Awakening in P5, but I chose to keep it considering that it resists Nuclear skills (meaning Kallen can't dominate it as easily), but had a fire weakness, giving Milly a chance to shine in her introduction. While also shared with Ann/Panther, fire was the obvious element for Milly, given how impulsive she can be, and that Kallen has been assigned Nuclear.**


	7. Showdown on Campus

The same blue cell walls that he had seen before in his dreams… the Velvet Room was starting to become all too familiar to him.

"I see you have returned to my Velvet Room in one piece, Trickster," Igor said. "Your powers have grown considerably as a result, as you gained new Personas and secured another confidant. Though you had some close shaves, this is on the whole a very auspicious start to your career as a thief."

"You keep going on about me being a thief," Lelouch said with annoyance. "What exactly am I supposed to be stealing?"

Igor chuckled. "That will become clear to you in due time. But I believe I promised you last time that I would reveal my true role, and that of the Velvet Room, if you returned with new masks."

"You did."

"The Velvet Room is primarily a facility for honing your Persona ability, both strengthening and creating new Personas. But to do so, we must execute your current Personas."

Igor gestured, and Shi and Tsu appeared, pushing two large guillotines into place, glowing blue "V"s on the blades. It seemed comical that one as small as Shi would be able to push such a heavy device, but she did so without apparent difficulty. Clearly, there was more to her than her appearance suggested.

"A Persona is one's other self! If you kill it… What are you trying to do, kill me?" Lelouch shook the bars angrily, causing Shi to let out a cry, which earned him another electrified baton across the bars from Tsu as soon as she finished moving the guillotine.

"You will not act so uncouth in front of my little sister or my master, Inmate!"

"You concern is understandable, Trickster," Igor said, "but ultimately misplaced. Do you not let old parts of your personality die so that you may grow? Are you the same person now that you were as a child? So it is with your Personas. And as a wielder of the Wild Card, you have far less to fear from the process than those without it, for you have multiple Personas. Even if two die, many others still reside within you."

"It's not like they're not gone forever either, Inmate," Tsu said. "Like you, they are prisoners of this Velvet Room, since each is part of you. We keep a record of all of your Personas that you've ever acquired in the Compendium." He saw Shi lugging over a large blue book. "With the aid of the Compendium, we can summon the deceased Personas once again from the sea of your soul, as they were in the moments before their executions. They're not truly gone, you see. Perhaps it's better to think of it as discarding old masks, so that you might realize new possibilities from them."

"When your Personas are executed, their powers shall mingle and fuse together, creating a new and usually more powerful Persona with some of the characteristics and abilities of both of the sacrificed Personas," Igor explained. "But you need not leave this process to chance. My assistants will help you predict the likely outcomes of an execution and ensure that those abilities you value most will be the ones passed on to the resulting Persona."

"You still haven't told me what your role in all of this is, Igor," Lelouch said suspiciously. "From what you just described, it seems Shi and Tsu are doing all of the work."

An ugly look crossed Igor's face for a moment. "Do not presume to lecture me, Trickster. Need I remind you who the inmate here is? Without my powers maintaining this Velvet Room, the entire process would fail."

Lelouch wasn't satisfied by Igor's answer. It was a classic appeal to authority, expecting Lelouch to take him at his word without question. But at the same time, Lelouch couldn't afford to spurn Igor's assistance. If he didn't take advantage of whatever means were available to him for strengthening his abilities, wouldn't he be dooming himself to failure?

"We have wasted enough time," Igor said. "Choose which two Personas you would like to execute."

Lelouch looked down. "Shi."

"Y-Yes Mr. Inmate?" She managed to get out the words, but her body went rigid, as if she was petrified by the sight of him.

"Is the process safe?"

"W-why are you asking me?" she squeaked.

"Because you seem too straightforward and terrified of me to even think of telling me a lie."

"What a cruel man," Tsu said, glaring at him.

"Yes… it is, Mr. Inmate!" Shi replied. "What… what would be the point of rehabilitation… if it were to kill you?" She seemed quite distressed at the suggestion, but as he had thought, he couldn't detect any untruths in her words.

"Very well. It's alright… I believe you, Shi." He looked up. "Well then… let's get started."

Shi and Tsu guided him through the possible new Personas that he might create, given those that he already held within him. He finally reached a decision, one that would help address the glaring weakness he had encountered in the fight against Belphegor. He would create the Persona Silky, which specialized in recovery and ice magic, while being resistant to ice itself. It would come at the cost of the Personas Bicorn… and Arsene.

"Your new Persona will not receive any additional power from this execution," Igor said. "Are you sure you wish to proceed?"

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked.

"Do you remember how I told you to cultivate your bonds with those you could confide in? Your Persona ability draws upon those bonds and your strength of heart. The stronger the bond, the more power received from it. You do not have a confidant corresponding to the Arcana of this new Persona yet, and hence it has no bond to draw further power from. As such, it is likely to be a serviceable, but unremarkable Persona."

It was another complication. Lelouch reviewed his options again, looking for Personas that he could create of the Fool, Magician, Chariot, or Fortune Arcanas, but he didn't see a better alternative that would serve his immediate needs. He needed Silky's ability to protect him against ice as his own.

"I'm sure."

"Very well then," Igor nodded.

Lelouch couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. He had made a vow to Arsene. Wasn't he about to betray that for the sake of greater power?

As if sensing his self-doubt, Arsene materialized before him on the other side of the bars, laughing with amusement.

"I am Arsene - the other you who exists within…. Though I may disappear at this moment, I shall always be at your side. We shall certainly meet again… when your fate reaches its conclusion."

Arsene laughed again, giving the impression that even though he was going to his death, he somehow knew that he would have the last laugh.

"Girls!" Igor called out. It was but a single word, but unmistakably carried a command.

Heeding their master's words, the two green-haired sisters approached Arsene and Bicorn, who had appeared next to the demonic thief.

"That's enough out of you," Tsu said, muffling Arsene's laughter as she roughly shoved a large blue velvet sack over him and bound him in chains. Shi did the same to Bicorn.

"I'm sorry…" the small girl said, frowning.

The sisters dragged their helpless captives over to the guillotines, forcing the bound Personas to rest their necks on the block at the bottom of the guillotine before clamping its upper half in place over them, preventing any escape.

Shi and Tsu completed the grim preparations for the execution with unnerving efficiency, even though Shi seemed distinctly uncomfortable with what she what she was doing.

Lelouch too felt a dreadful sense of foreboding, though he didn't let it show. The guillotine was seared into the collective consciousness as an enduring symbol of the French Revolution, and its worst excesses in the following Reign of Terror. Perhaps nowhere was this conception so firmly rooted as in the Britannian nobility and Imperial Family. Intermarried as the nobility of the old Europe had been, many powerful Britannian families had ancestors who had been lost during the Terror and the subsequent waves of revolution that had swept across the continent. Even after the Terror itself had passed, the Revolution's democratic ideology, paired with Napoleon's military genius, had posed an existential threat to Britannia's monarchical system. It was only by relocating to the pacified American colonies and establishing a new government in exile there that Britannia had survived at all, an object lesson that its rulers had not forgotten.

Britannia's rulers hadn't let its citizens forget that lesson either. While many topics in world history were either glossed over or excised completely from the textbooks, standard Britannian curricula mandated extensive coverage of the French Revolution, though strictly from a pro-monarchial standpoint, and with many details fabricated to make the revolutionaries look even worse than they were. The indoctrination only intensified for children born into higher social classes. While many young children in the Imperial Family might believe in the bogeyman for a time, just as commoner children might, the specter of the guillotine haunted their nightmares in a way that few commoners would ever have to deal with.

Lelouch had long since outgrown that particular nightmare, as had Nunnally. They had more than enough real traumas in their pasts now. But the sight of the guillotine still deeply unsettled him, a fact that irked him, as it showed that traces of the conditioning meant to mold him into a proper Britannian royal persisted, even after so many years.

"Commence the execution!" Igor ordered, interrupting his thoughts.

The heavy blades descended, deadly blue streaks that effortlessly cut through the condemned Personas. The blades did not sever flesh or bone, but their very essence, which at once burst outward as swirling blue and white light.

Lelouch felt himself recoil in shock, feeling a pain that could only be described as coming from within his soul. He had literally watched and felt two parts of himself die. Simply processing that feeling was difficult for him, and the sight of the grisly spectacle was too much for Shi to handle. The younger warden broke down crying uncontrollably, and Tsu had to go over to console her.

Yet as Igor had promised, something was born anew within him, and took form in the center of the Velvet Room as the power released by the demise of Arsene and Bicorn gathered there.

"I am Silky," the new Persona said. It had the appearance of a young woman with green skin and hair, wearing a red silk dress and a servant's headdress. She did a curtsey. "You who has gained a new mask, my master... Allow me to take care of your heart."

Silky dematerialized, but Lelouch could feel her residing within him, filling part of the void that had been left by Arsene and Bacon's passing, more powerful than either had been on its own. But he was still down a Persona.

Recalling what Tsu had said about the Persona Compendium, he asked, "Can you recall Arsene for me?"

"Of course," replied Tsu, looking up from her sister, who was still sobbing. "That will be seventeen pounds and forty-one pence."

"Excuse me?"

"I'd ask for yen," Tsu replied nonchalantly, "but they don't accept that in this land anymore."

"I have to pay?" He couldn't tell if she was pulling his leg or not, and that was infuriating to him.

Tsu laughed lightly. "What, did you think we would do it for free?" She paused, and her expression darkened. "But you made my sister cry earlier, so I'll have to apply a surcharge. That will bring it up to twenty pounds and eighty-nine pence."

"Now you're just making things up as you go along!"

"Make that twenty-four pounds and thirty-seven pence."

"This is extortion!"

"Do you want your Persona back or not, Inmate?" Tsu smirked. "I'm happy to keep raising the price."

"How am I even supposed to pay?" He crossed his arms. "This is a dream, right?"

"You think too much," Tsu replied in amusement.

"Fine," Lelouch scowled. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction of seeing him lose his temper any more than he already had. "So how does one go about paying you in a dream anyway?"

"You'll find your wallet right over there by your prison bed," Tsu replied.

Lelouch saw that indeed it was there, though he couldn't remember seeing it in his cell before. It was as if the suggestion itself had made his wallet appear. The incongruence irritated him, but since he was experiencing the Velvet Room as a dream, he supposed that it couldn't be expected to follow the same rules as reality.

Retrieving his wallet, Lelouch grudgingly handed Tsu the bills and coins needed to make the payment through the gaps between the bars of his cell. Tsu counted the money carefully, clearly suspicious of him shortchanging her, but in the end, she was satisfied. In turn, she took out the Compendium, and began to read while holding her hand above it. The pages of the book began flipping by themselves until they stopped on a certain entry. The Compendium then glowed brightly, and Arsene appeared before him once more.

"Calling me back from the grave so soon?" Arsene laughed heartily. "And after I gave that speech too! I didn't take you as the sentimental type! But as always, I am thou, and thou art I." He then dematerialized, occupying his former place in Lelouch's soul once more.

"I'm grateful to have Arsene back, but what do you even need money for here?" Lelouch asked Tsu.

"Pizza."

"What."

"It's the most heavenly of all foods…" Tsu closed her eyes, as if imagining a steaming hot slice. "But it's been ages since I had some. She hasn't had a chance to try it yet, but I'm sure it will make my little sister feel better as well. I'll get extra cheese and…"

"You must forgive my assistants for their eccentricities," Igor said. "But as you have seen, they get the job done. That being said, next time I would like you to come of your own free will. You will continue to find our services essential for your rehabilitation.

"That said, Tsu's pizza habit might leave you… strapped for cash if you continue to use the Compendium," Igor continued after a moment's thought. "Fortunately, this is no problem for a true thief. You will find many valuables in the Palace that you can steal and fence back in the real world for a good price. But since your rehabilitation proceeds so joyously, perhaps I can lend you my assistance once again." Igor raised a hand. "I bestow upon you the gift of the Third Eye. If you quiet your mind, you shall be able to perceive clearly that which is not readily apparent to the naked eye. No hiding spot for the Palace owner's precious trinkets shall be safe from you."

Igor's words brought a memory to the surface of Lelouch's mind.

"Shadow Villetta mentioned her 'Treasure' two days ago. She thought that Kallen's brother was trying to steal it. But it's not the same thing as these 'trinkets' and 'valuables', is it? You could have said 'Treasure', but you're deliberately not using that word. It means something special in the Metaverse… doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does, Trickster," Igor replied. "You are most perceptive. But whether you choose to steal her Treasure, or seek your justice through other means is entirely up to you, Trickster."

The prison bell rang once more. "Until we meet again, Trickster…" Igor smiled, if his expression could be called a smile. "I look forward to seeing what you decide."

The Velvet Room faded away, and Lelouch woke up in his own bed, back in the real world. Feeling groggy, he reached for his wallet.

Twenty-four pounds and thirty-seven pence were gone from it.

Of course they were.

All things considered, it hadn't been that much to ask for bringing one of his Personas back from the dead, though Tsu had made no effort to be anything but insufferable throughout the exchange.

At the same time, his gambling income, which he also used to help fund Nunnally's treatments, had been drying up since the mobilization of the SSDF. The Ashfords would have made sure that all of her basic needs were met even if he wasn't paying for them, but Lelouch disliked the thought of being wholly dependent on the Ashfords for their finances, and he liked being able to help his sister. That said, the thought of being able to supplement his income with valuables found in the Metaverse was certainly appealing.

Then there was what Igor had mentioned just before the dream ended…. The utility of being able to use the Metaverse to probe a target's secrets, desires, and fears had been obvious to him, and such information would doubtlessly prove useful in plotting the downfall of Britannia. But Igor had implied that there was a more direct way to bring Villetta to justice - by stealing her 'Treasure', whatever it was. He had also mentioned "other means," bringing to mind something Arthur had said. Kallen's brother had suspected that the Metaverse might be connected to the psychotic breakdowns and mental shutdowns that had been occurring throughout and around the Tokyo Settlement. From what Lelouch had seen of the Metaverse, a world based on cognition, that hypothesis was a reasonable one.

But even if it was indeed possible to inflict a mental shutdown through the Metaverse, and tempting as it was given all of the abuse Coach Nu had put his friends through, after a moment he realized that doing so wouldn't resolve anything in a satisfactory manner. First of all, if Villetta were to die suspiciously, Ashford Academy would be subjected to even greater scrutiny, and her superiors would likely send in a replacement. It would also give the Purist Faction the perfect excuse to have Suzaku arrested for murder. They'd frame him up to be Coach Nu's killer, somehow.

Then there was the question of how his fellow Pesona-users would react. He didn't think Kallen would have an issue with murdering Coach Nu, given how she had threatened him before, on school grounds no less, simply for knowing who she really was. Kallen would easily be able to write off the act on the grounds that Villetta was an enemy agent who would never see justice served for her own crimes otherwise. Kallen probably would have already done so to avenge her brother if not for the fact that it would completely blow her cover. But he doubted that Milly would be willing to commit, let alone condone murder as a solution, even for someone as awful as Coach Nu.

He would have to ask Kallen and Arthur later if they knew anything about a 'Treasure', as the term applied to the Metaverse. Until then, he would just have to continue pretending to be a normal student.

But as he was going to class that morning, Coach Nu's plan went into action.

xXx

"Suzaku Kururugi, report to the Headmaster's Office immediately!" Villetta Nu's voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

"I knew that Eleven was trouble," Lelouch overheard a student gossiping.

"What were they thinking, letting him in?" another whispered.

"What do you think he did?"

"I don't know. But they must have caught him doing something."

"You know, maybe that SSDF isn't so bad…"

"Yeah… I thought they were a pain at first, but I guess they really are keeping us safe…"

How stupid could they be? It should have been obvious to anyone that Coach Nu had been planning this for some time, but they immediately assumed the worst about Suzaku and mindlessly swallowed whatever propaganda they were fed against the Japanese people. Or worse, they wouldn't care, even if they knew it was a frame-up, if it would mean getting rid of the 'Eleven'.

But that wasn't important now. Changing direction, Lelouch began running toward the Headmaster's Office.

As he hurried through the halls, he encountered Kallen. Seeing his urgency, she began following him, faster than a sickly girl should. To his chagrin, Kallen wasn't even breaking a sweat, even as he was already running out of breath. He had known she was in far better shape than he was, but he didn't like appearing weak next to her.

"She's made her move," Lelouch said to her breathlessly. "She's going after Suzaku."

"He's an Honorary Britannian," Kallen replied with contempt. It remained unsaid, but it was clear that she considered the term synonymous with "traitor," specifically one against the Japanese people, denoting one who had cast aside their pride to bow to Britannian hegemony.

"That doesn't matter right now," he hissed. "But whatever she's accused Suzaku of, we can be sure that it's a frame-up. Trust me, he's a stickler for following rules, even when he'd be better off not doing. Coach Nu's done far too much already, and if she can make false charges like this stick, who knows what else she'll be emboldened to do here at Ashford!"

"I know," Kallen scowled. "That's why I'm not about to let her get away with it if I have anything to say about it. The way she treats other people makes me sick."

Kallen couldn't say it aloud without further risking her cover as a sickly girl who lacked strong opinions, but her words also carried an implied, "especially the Japanese." Whether she saw Suzaku as a traitor or not, Lelouch knew that she wouldn't stand for such flagrantly racist bigotry against another Japanese person.

"How dare you lowly Eleven steal from your betters!" they heard Coach Nu shouting as they neared the Headmaster's Office.

"Grr..." Kallen said, clenching a fist.

"I… didn't!" they heard Suzaku gasp.

Grandfather! This-" another voice protested. It seemed Milly was in there too.

Without waiting a moment longer, Lelouch and Kallen burst into the room. Suzaku was on his knees, surrounded and restrained by a burly squad of six SSDF goons. Coach Nu stood in front of Suzaku, between him and the headmaster, and Milly was to her grandfather's side.

"Who gave you permission to barge in here?" Villetta demanded, her golden eyes flashing in anger as she turned to face them. For a brief moment, Lelouch thought he could see the supernatural glow of her Shadow's eyes in them. "You should be in class!"

Lelouch ignored her, and addressed Milly's grandfather directly. "I'll ask for your forgiveness later, Headmaster, but I can't just stand idly by while a serious miscarriage of justice is perpetrated! Suzaku is innocent!"

"You have no proof of that," Villetta sneered. "You're just here to defend your friend, no matter how damning the evidence against him! Thanks to the commendable efforts of the SSDF, a number of stolen items were tracked back to and discovered in his dormitory room. He tried to run when the announcement was made just minutes ago, showing consciousness of his guilt, but the SSDF was able to bring him in to face justice for his crimes!"

No, Suzaku wouldn't have run, unless the SSDF had started the chase themselves. In a fair fight, Suzaku would have been able to deal with them in a few seconds flat, if his skills hadn't deteriorated too much from no longer being in regular training. Suzaku's continued athletic performance in gym class showed that they hadn't. But Suzaku couldn't afford to fight back, lest he actually commit a serious violation of school rules, and so the SSDF had been able to subdue him.

"You had the SSDF plant those items there to frame Suzaku!" Lelouch declared. "And isn't that excessive force?" He gesturing at the SSDF members holding Suzaku down. "This is supposed to be a school."

"The first is a baseless accusation, Lelouch," Villetta said, her voice dangerously low. "I shall not stand for such slander from one of my students. I only hope that you don't show your other teachers such disrespect. And it's the opinion of a number of parents that discipline has become far too lax as of late. I am merely correcting that."

Parents with ties to the Purist Faction, no doubt.

"You call how you've been treating the swim team discipline?"

Lelouch realized his mistake as soon as he had said it, but the words had already escaped before he could stop himself.

"What nonsense!" Coach Nu fumed. "I've had enough of this! Remove them!"

Letting go of Suzaku, two pairs of SSDF members rose. One pair roughly took hold of Lelouch's arms, while the other did the same to Kallen.

"Let go of me, you creep!" Kallen snarled, startling one of the SSDF members holding her with her unexpected shift in personality. He let go of her and took a step back, freeing one of her arms to deliver a vicious sucker punch to the gut of the other SSDF member restraining her.

Milly covered her mouth and let out a small gasp.

"Why… you little… bitch!" the injured SSDF member groaned, falling to his knees in pain.

"Now you've done it, Miss Stadtfeld!" Villetta shouted triumphantly. "An act of assault and battery, and in front of the Headmaster too? You can't deny what your just saw, can you, Ruben?"

"No… I cannot," the headmaster said, shaking his head sadly.

"Boys, leave us," Villetta said curtly to the SSDF members.

Just like the Cognitions of the SSDF in her Palace, they promptly obeyed her.

"Not you though, Lelouch, or Kururugi either," Villetta added. "I'm sure you thought of that, and it would have been a nice try, but I'm not letting you two out of my sight so easily."

Glaring at Villetta, Lelouch helped Suzaku to his feet. He hadn't been planning on leaving anyways, not when he needed to be here for Suzaku, and when Kallen had now gotten in trouble herself.

Now that the SSDF members had departed, Villeta rounded on the headmaster.

"This is a most serious situation," she said. "Two of your students have been caught committing crimes. And the other day, after Miss Stadtfeld's detention, I thought to look through her past school records… files you tried to hide away, I might add… Do you know what I found? Miss 'Stadtfeld' isn't even a proper Britannian…. Her middle school transcript clearly shows that that's she's an Eleven halfbreed! She was born as Kallen Kozuki."

"With all due respect, I fail to see how that is relevant, Coach Nu," Ruben Ashford said carefully. "She is considered a full member of the Stadtfeld family, and is the legal heiress to her father's title."

"I would say that it appears that you're not just harboring Elevens," Villetta said, pacing around the headmaster's desk, much as her Shadow had done while tormenting Kallen. "You sympathize with violent criminals… perhaps future terrorists themselves, who would turn to bite your hand the moment they were given the opportunity in spite of all of your misguided generosity toward them.

"Those weren't the only irregularities I found when I was looking through the school's records," she continued, smirking. Villetta gestured at Lelouch. "I found some interesting things while looking through his records and those of his sister. It took a while to track down, but it appears that Lelouch and Nunnally Lamperouge didn't officially exist until about six and a half years ago... a few months after the conquest of Area 11, if I may add. How do you explain that?"

"What is it that you want?" Ruben asked, seeming overwhelmed. "You wouldn't be telling me this if you didn't have something in mind."

"Very good! I'm willing to sit on this information," Villetta said, leaning in. Her voice dropped dangerously low again. "But you will expel Suzaku Kururugi and Kallen Sta- Kozuki," she said, correcting herself, "or else I will see to it that they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. I'll discuss the rest of my terms with you later… but they're not for ears of children," she continued, glaring at Milly.

"There will need to be a hearing…" Ruben said, sighing heavily. "Kururugi's benefactor will not simply accept his expulsion unless the proper procedures are observed. I'm certain that Earl Stadtfeld would also expect the same treatment for his own daughter."

That was good. Known as an avid partygoer in his youth, Headmaster Ruben Ashford was skilled at cultivating useful contacts, and greasing those wheels that he needed to. But if there was someone that the headmaster couldn't win to his side, the years had taught him how to stall his enemies by miring them in social conventions and bureaucratic red tape.

Lelouch was grateful for any time that the headmaster could buy for them. Perhaps the headmaster could have even been a valuable source of insight to Lelouch, now that he had to forge new bonds of his own in order to develop his powers. But Lelouch knew that he couldn't involve the headmaster any further. It was enough that the Ashford family had sheltered them for all of these years, and he had already made Milly an accessory to whatever crimes he might commit in the Metaverse.

"Tch!" Annoyance flashed in Villetta's eyes, but after a moment it passed. "Very well! I'll humor you… How long before you can convene a hearing?" It was posed as a question, but it had the sound of a demand.

"The board will meet again in twelve days," the headmaster replied.

"That long?"

"We meet every two weeks," the headmaster said firmly.

"Hmph! Fine!" Villetta fumed. "I'm a patient woman. I've waited long enough for this. I can wait a bit longer…" She raised an eyebrow. "I trust they will be suspended in the meantime?"

The headmaster sighed. "Kallen Stadtfeld will be suspended for two days, and Suzaku Kururugi will be put on disciplinary probation pending the completion of an investigation. For now, the charges against Suzaku are merely hearsay to me, and so I do not have cause to give him a greater punishment."

"You're even softer than you look!" Villetta shook her head. "But it will make no difference in the end. I will see to it that these two are expelled. And I'll get to the bottom of whatever secret the Lamperouges are hiding as well!"

She turned. "Mr. Lamperouge, Miss Ashford, and Kururugi! Return to class!" She seemed to rise up, and her voice rose with her. "And you, Kallen Kozuki! Return home and leave the Academy grounds at once!"

Villetta laughed as they walked out. "Enjoy your last days at Ashford Academy!"

xXx

"This is terrible…" Milly said when they had put some distance between themselves and the headmaster's office. "Now she's openly blackmailing grandfather."

"You shouldn't have come, Lelouch," Suzaku said, his head down. "Now you and Kallen are in a whole lot worse trouble."

"She's already close to finding out who we really are. I doubt it could be much worse."

Suzaku gave him a quizzical look.

"Do you mind if I have a moment to talk with Lelouch?" Suzaku asked Milly and Kallen. "It will only take a moment, and then we'll catch up to you."

"Go ahead," Milly replied.

Kallen nodded.

"Did you tell her?" Suzaku asked him. "I mean, about-" He trailed off. He shook his head. "You you wouldn't have said that if she didn't already know. You're much too careful about that sort of thing to just let it slip like that. Just how close are the two of you really?"

"It's not like that, Suzaku," Lelouch replied, his voice a whisper. "She already heard back in the Headmaster's Office that I'm not who I say I am. And if you must know, I told her that I'm ex-nobility."

"But thats-" Suzaku began.

"Completely true," Lelouch said. "For a certain value of nobility."

Suzaku shook his head. "I don't know what you're playing at, Lelouch... But the Ashfords pulled through for you before, didn't they?"

They picked up their pace, rejoining the group.

"I'm sure the headmaster will figure something out," Suzaku said. "The truth will come out at my hearing and Kallen's. Coach Nu can't expel Kallen for something like that… suspend yes, but expulsion is another matter entirely, especially for a first offense. Though I never expected to see that from you, Kallen... Where did that even come from?"

"Ummm..." Kallen said quietly, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"That's what you focus on?!" Lelouch asked with only partly feigned incredulity, as he tried to divert Suzaku's attention away from Kallen's feat of strength to the far more pressing matter at hand.

"You're way too naive, Suzaku! Coach Nu can and will expel you. But since you mentioned Kallen, don't you see that the system is rigged against both of you, especially with how you're both Japanese?"

"We have to believe that the system can work, Lelouch," Suzaku replied simply. "That's why I became an Honorary Britannian in the first place. The system can be changed for the better from within, through the right means. All those terrorists you hear about on the news accomplish is perpetuating the conflict, which causing Britannia to crack down even more harshly on the Japanese. And if I don't cooperate with the hearing, that will just be taken as proof of my guilt."

They'll find 'proof' of your guilt sure enough, when they can just make up whatever evidence they want, like how Coach Nu did," Lelouch retorted.

Kallen said nothing, careful to hold herself in check after her earlier ill-timed outburst, but Lelouch could see that she was scowling.

"If you can really change the world in that way, I'll take back everything I said about you being naive, Suzaku," Lelouch continued after a moment. "But I can't follow that path myself. I can't afford to be off on an idealistic crusade to change the world... Nunnally comes first for me. I just want her to be happy."

"You know that no matter what happens Lelouch, we'll be friends, right?" There was a nostalgic sound in Suzaku's voice. "I'll always be there for you and Nunnally if you ever need any help."

"Yeah, I do," Lelouch replied. He smiled, though after a moment it changed into a smirk. "I'll say the same for you too, Suzaku. Someone has to keep you grounded in reality sometimes."

"Is that so?" Suzaku asked. He then chuckled. "You haven't changed a bit. But backhanded as you may have been there, I truly appreciate it, Lelouch. We can call that a deal."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Justice Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

"Well, good luck, Lelouch! I've got to go!"

Suzaku departed, leaving Lelouch, Kallen, and Milly alone as they walked across the school grounds, now mostly deserted now that all of the students, even members of the SSDF, were in their classes. Arthur surreptitiously appeared from some bushes, and trotted over to join them.

"Damn it! We've got to do something about this!" Kallen swore.

"Yeah… and I guess we'll have to hold off on inducting you into the Student Council," Milly frowned. "You know… with you being suspended and all."

"This morning, I was thinking about something that the Palace ruler said earlier," Lelouch cut in. "She mentioned that before he died, Kallen's brother was trying to steal her 'Treasure'. Do you-"

"Oh! I had no idea!" Milly gasped, interrupting him. She frowned. "I know it may not mean much, and I didn't know him, but I'm so sorry for your loss, Kallen."

"Save your pity for later," Kallen said, crossing her arms and looking away from Milly.

"As I was saying," Lelouch continued, turning to Kallen, "Do you or Arthur have any idea of what the significance of a 'Treasure' is, as it applies to the Metaverse? From the way that the Palace ruler was talking about it, I have a feeling that it's not just an ordinary treasure."

"Actually, her brother did have an idea about that," Arthur replied. "A Palace symbolizes the distorted desires of the owner, right?"

"Of course," Lelouch nodded.

"So what is it that is being guarded within the Palace?" Arthur asked. "Her brother thought that was the Treasure. It would have to be the very embodiment of those distorted desires, that which the Palace owner cherishes above all else, and in fact gives rise to the Palace itself. At least... that was the best working idea that we had," Arthur admitted sheepishly. "None of us has actually seen a Treasure in the Metaverse, so this is all just speculation."

"Thank you, Arthur. We can work with that." Lelouch smirked. "And if that hypothesis is true, then it's clear what we need to do."

"What would that be, Lelouch?" Kallen asked, giving him a strange but curious look.

"Isn't it obvious?" he replied. "We need to steal Villetta's Treasure from her Palace, whatever it is. Think about it! If we remove the source of her twisted desires, that insatiable envy of hers, which drives her to pursue self-advancement at any cost, will disappear. But desires aren't everything... there are also memories.."

"And if she was left with knowledge of what she had done…" Milly started, her eyes going wide.

"Exactly," Lelouch smirked. "Without the Treasure to sustain it, Villetta's cognition of Ashford Academy as her Castle would collapse, and here in the real world, Coach Nu would be crushed by the guilt of what she's done all at once. She might even confess to how she's been mistreating the swim team, and how she framed Suzaku, to relieve that burden from herself."

"That's your plan?!" Kallen asked, incredulous. "That may have been my brother' best guess, but you've strung so many guesses together on top of that that..." She paused, struggling to find the right words. "You said it yourself! No one's actually seen someone's Treasure in the Metaverse before! How do we have any guarantee that your plan would even work?"

"Wait..." Milly said, frowning. "If it really is such a shock to a person's psyche that it would crush them with guilt... who's to say that would be all that collapses? What if..." She hesitated, and when she continued, her voice was barely a whisper. "What if... removing someone's Treasure puts such a strain on them that it causes a mental shutdown... like we've heard about on the news. Can a person even survive without their desires?" She swallowed. "I don't want to have another person's blood on my hands if I can avoid it... even if that person is blackmailing my grandfather, framing your friend Suzaku, and abusing Shirley."

"What other options do we have?" Lelouch asked irritably. "We're all twelve days from ruination. Your grandfather's reputation will be irreparably damaged. Kallen and Suzaku will be expelled. And Nunnally and I will in all likelihood be exposed. And that assumes that Coach Nu keeps her word and doesn't choose to leak the information earlier than that. Under the circumstances, I'd say that's an acceptable risk. One way or the other, I'm not going to lose any sleep over what happens to her. "

"Don't forget me!" Arthur piped up. "I'd be back out on the streets again!"

"It would basically be brainwashing her into becoming a better person…" Kallen murmured. "Even if we can, should we be wielding that kind of power? If someone were to do that to me, to change who I was against my will, I… I..." She shuddered slightly at the thought.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Now you're the one worrying about morals, Kallen? Don't, for our target has none. Besides, do you have any better ideas?"

"No…" she admitted, shaking her head.

"Does anyone else have a better idea?" he asked.

There was only silence from them.

"So are we decided then?"

His fellow Persona-users nodded solemnly.

"Excellent," Lelouch said. "We'll meet outside after school, and make sure that we're fully prepared before challenging Villetta's Palace again. And when we go to seize her Treasure…"

His lips spread into a vicious smile.

"The real one will never see it coming."

 _ **Days Until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 12**_

 **A/N:**

 **The ideas are really flowing along. It's great to have forward momentum on a story.**

 **Edit: Like the previous chapters in the first arc, I have extensively revised this one, adding more details and making minor alterations to character interactions, while keeping the overall story the same.**


	8. Into the Castle of Envy

The Tokyo Concession was the vibrant heart of the Tokyo Settlement, itself a clean and efficient modern city, offering the Britannian residents every amenity they could desire at malls, restaurants, boutiques, museums, theaters, and even the recently opened Clovisland amusement park. Monorail lines encircled the Settlement in concentric rings, offering cheap and rapid transit from district to district, powered by large solar arrays, with highways cutting across and under city. The Concession area itself had boulevards lined with trees and small parks, along with the stalls of vendors trying to hawk their wares. A series of imposing towers surrounded the Settlement, housing further commercial complexes, and Mount Fuji stood it the distance, its snowy peak surrounded by metal plating on a side, only the surface of the extensive Sakuradite mining operations that dug deep into the mountain once revered by the Japanese.

Most Britannians living in the Tokyo Settlement would find no reason to ever leave it, save on business trips, tourist outings, or to return to the Britannian homeland. Even when they did leave it, they would do so by high-speed train across the countryside or airplane.

Of course, this was entirely by design. Not only was the Tokyo Settlement built atop the old Tokyo, it was a fortress, with numerous defensive perimeters designed to withstand any assault that rebellious Japanese could muster. Moreover, it wouldn't do for ordinary Britannians to mingle with the 'Elevens' in the squalid and crumbling ghettos surrounding the settlement. Not only did Britannia require the Elevens, or any of the 'Numbers' to remain the Other to its citizens, but if Britannias spent any significant time among or seeing the ghettos, they might start to feel complicit in the heavy-handed exploitation that made their comfortable lifestyles possible. The only Japanese officially allowed to live in the Tokyo Settlement were Honorary Britannians, but the Purists wanted to strip them of even that privilege.

Lelouch, Kallen, Milly, and Arthur had headed to the Tokyo Concession together after meeting up outside Ashford Academy. They were currently seated at a table outside the Omotesandō Mall, putting together a list of the items they wanted to procure in preparation for their next infiltration of Villetta's Palace. To passerby, who would ignore Arthur, or believe he was Milly's pet, given how he was comfortably curled up on Milly's lap as she stroked his fur, the conversation, which they would scarcely pay attention to anyway, appeared to be between a handsome guy and two attractive girls. The other shoppers would simply assume them to be on a threesome date, perhaps at most shooting jealous glares their way before moving on. Of course, if there were other Ashford students among the crowd, Lelouch knew that it would only fuel more rumors, but at this point he didn't really care. Let them think he was dating Kallen and now Milly. They would anyway, and with his plan to have Kallen join the Student Council falling through for now, it offered them a sufficient pretext to meet regularly.

"Traitor," Kallen muttered as she glared at Arthur.

"I think its just purr-fect over here."

"Can we stay on topic?" Lelouch asked wearily. Though they were united by their common interest in stealing Villetta's Treasure, he could tell that Kallen didn't like Milly very much. It was understandable. To Kallen, Milly must have exemplified the overprivileged Britannian nobility with how she threw lavish efforts into the most frivolous things and could boss everyone about, though Lelouch knew that was more from the force of Milly's personality. Her grandfather may have once given her a free rein around the school, but that alone wouldn't have been enough to pull the entire Student Council and most of the school into the wacky events she loved planning. She made things fun.

"Fine," Kallen said.

"So we've agreed that first aid kits are a must," Lelouch said quietly. "As I'm sure you've all noticed by now, summoning your Persona takes quite a bit out of you; repeated use results in physical or mental fatigue, reducing your overall effectiveness, which could ultimately prove quite costly."

Arthur and Kallen nodded.

"I could barely stand at first after summoning Medea," Milly said.

"That seems to happen to everyone when they first awaken their Persona," Arthur spoke up.

"It's like exercising a muscle that hasn't been used in a long time," Kallen nodded. "Of course it's going to hurt at first. But soon, when you've built up some strength, you can use it and barely break a sweat."

"It makes me wonder about what sort of exercise routine you maintain at home, Kallen," Milly said, a mischievous look appearing on her face. "You wouldn't be able to keep that supple body of yours without working out. Perhaps one day we should get together for a private workout…"

"P-Pervert! I don't swing that way!"

"Relax, Kallen… I just can't help but tease a cute girl… Besides, your reactions are adorable!"

"Ahem," Lelouch said.

"Aw, fine! For my Vice President, you can be no fun sometimes!"

"This isn't an official meeting of the Student Council, Madam President. As I was saying, we'll want to use the first aid kits to treat any superficial injuries we might sustain in the Metaverse so we can save our Personas for the event that we might need to heal more serious wounds."

"So bandages, antibiotics… what else?" Milly asked.

"Don't forget to make sure that they have burn ointments or cooling pads," Kallen said. "A lot of Shadows seem to like flinging fire around. And considering yesterday, some hand warmers might help get blood flowing again if a Shadow tries to freeze us."

"That's all innocuous enough."

"We should get some rope," Arthur said. "It's something a proper thief should never be without."

"And maybe something as a distraction?" Milly asked. "I bet we could find could find something in a joke shop…"

Kallen shook her head. "If you're thinking about smoke or stink bombs, you'll have a hard time finding them in stores these days. The Viceroy believes they could be used by rebels, so he's placed restrictions on their sale. He's not wrong."

"If only we could make our own…" Arthur murmured… "But don't look at me… I'm a cat… I can't exactly mix chemicals together."

"If only someone didn't spend half of his time sleeping through chemistry class…" Kallen said, turning to Lelouch.

"I guess we'll have to table that idea for now then," Milly said, frowning.

"I think I can pick something up from… my friends…" Kallen said carefully.

"Let's meet back in an hour then. Is that okay with everyone?"

They nodded.

As Lelouch went about his shopping, he caught a blue glow in the corner of his eye. Turning, he saw that it was coming from a nearby alleyway. Walking closer to investigate, he saw that the light was coming from a ghostly cell door… and standing beside it was Tsu.

"It's you, Inmate," she said between munching on a slice of pizza, her tone still unfriendly. "I don't like to be kept waiting."

"You were waiting for me?"

"It's my Master's orders… guard this door to the Velvet Room, and escort you inside should you arrive. I'd be bored out of my mind if I couldn't get delivery."

"How does that even work?"

"There's a Pizza Hut in the mall nearby. Ordinary people can't see me or this door, but they also tend not to ask questions when money is involved."

"Why does Igor have you guard the door then? Didn't he say that only those with a contract could freely enter the Velvet Room? No random passerby would be able to do so, let alone perceive it in the first place." He chuckled. "It seems rather pointless if you ask me."

"What's it to you, Inmate?"

"Doesn't it make you curious as to what he's playing at?"

"It's clear that you don't trust our Master."

"Not at all. But we'll use each other for now…"

"I'd hold my tongue, if I were you, Inmate. Our Master is not one you want to see angry. As you saw last night, he does not like being crossed. If you think my sister is scared of you, then you should see when she upsets him."

"So you're his slaves."

She glared at him. "Not a word of that in front of our Master. Our destiny is bound to that room, and there's nothing that can change it."

"Didn't your sister say that the Trickster could realize infinite possibilities?"

"Get inside," she said, raising her baton threateningly. "There's something we want to discuss with you."

"As you wish," he said, raising his hands in mock surrender.

"Wipe that smirk off your face, Inmate."

He stepped through the door, and found himself inside the Velvet Room, once more in a straitjacket. Lelouch could see Shi sitting on a side, happily eating pizza, a Pizza Hut box resting nearby.

"Welcome, Trickster," Igor said. "I see you have already found the door in the real world. It shall serve as a permanent portal to this place. Other doorways may be opened to you in the future so that you may pursue your rehabilitation at your convenience." He paused. "Shi! Are you listening?"

"I'm - I'm sorry, Master!" Shi stammered, quickly gulping down the rest of the slice and scrambling to her feet.

"My assistants have devised a plan for furthering your rehabilitation," Igor said. "I would like you to listen to it."

"W-we want you bring us powerful masks!" Shi started.

"You're being too vague, Shi," Tsu said. "We should make this a contract… that way we'll get nothing more or less out of it than specified. It's something you'll learn as you get older."

"Okay…" Shi said, deflating. She paused to think. "I want to see Jack Frost!" she said after a moment.

"Make sure it has Mabufu," Tsu added. "Of course, Jack Frost is really just a low-level Persona… but it's more than you can handle at the moment, Inmate. Bringing it to us will be proof of your progress in your rehabilitation."

"And… if we have other requests from time to time… would you listen to them, Mr. Inmate?" Shi asked nervously.

"Of course. How could I say no when you ask so earnestly?"

"Really?!"

"Don't get too excited, Shi. He hasn't done anything yet. But I suppose that we have now made the contract official at least."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Death Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

These girls represented Death? It was ominous… but also for some reason sad…

"Honestly, I don't expect much from you," Tsu said. "But I might be surprised…"

Departing from the Velvet Room, Lelouch regrouped with his allies outside of Ashford Academy. Milly had her share of supplies, and Kallen had a shopping bag with her, though he doubted that anything innocent was inside. She was the girl who carried a knife disguised as a pink pouch after all.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked.

"Yeah… just be sure that no one follows us into the Metaverse this time," Kallen replied. "No offense meant," she said, glancing at Milly.

"None taken."

"The coast seems to be clear," Arthur announced. "If we're going in, we should do so now."

Lelouch nodded. "Beginning Navigation," the app on his phone intoned.

They found themselves just outside Villeta's distorted Ashford Academy.

"Okay, so before we start our infiltration in earnest, what should we call you in the Metaverse?" Arthur said, looking up at Milly, who was once again in her cat costume. "With that lustrous black coat, I'm thinking Panther would be perfect for you!"

"That makes it sound like I want to eat everyone up," Milly said suggestively. "It's not a bad codename, but I had another one in mind."

"Oh? What would that be?" Arthur asked.

Milly raised a hand to her mask, her pawed gloves brushing against the gems embedded in it. "I was thinking Diamond. I mean, this costume is just the sort of thing a sexy jewel thief would wear in the movies and comics!" She posed, running a hand through her hair, placing the other on her side as she bent over, beaming at Lelouch with a kittenish smile. "See what I mean, Zero? Aren't diamonds a girl's best friend? Meow meow!"

"I have no objections to that name," Lelouch said, deadpanning even as he felt his cheeks betraying him as they suddenly got warm.

Milly was always like that. Even when she had first greeted him at Ashford Academy, sent by her grandfather to give him a tour of the facilities, she had tried to get him to relax his usually uptight and aloof front by openly flaunting her developing bust and curves in front of him, encouraging him to ogle them - even though she was still in middle school at the time! But of course Milly had only grown more beautiful over the years. Lelouch wasn't asexual; he was capable of feeling attraction to a woman in that sort of way. But as goal-oriented as he was, he had made a habit, not by any one conscious decision on his part, of regularly repressing such urges so that his hormones wouldn't cloud his judgment or compromise his focus. The inevitable consequence was that he wasn't quite sure of what to make of situations like this, when he couldn't perfectly maintain his disinterested mask.

In contrast, Kallen may have been a skilled actress, but once she let out her true personality, it was harder for her to keep her feelings in check, and so it was her who reacted most to Milly's display, becoming visibly flustered.

"What are you doing? We're supposed to be on a mission, stealing Coach Nu's Treasure! All you can think of right now is flirting with him? And shouldn't it be 'Nyan nyan'?" Her face only got redder as she realized what she had said.

"Ooh, someone doesn't like me putting the moves on her boyfriend! But I'll keep that in mind."

"I've already told you, we aren't dating!"

"Oh well…". She returned to a normal posture, and faced Lelouch again. "I'll get a nosebleed out of you one day, Zero."

"I guess the discussion of her codename is over then," Arthur said. "Diamond it is."

"Wait… one more thing before we get going," Kallen said, reaching into the shopping bag she had brought with them into the Metaverse, rustling through the layer of clothes that hid the bag's true contents.

She pulled out a handgun and tossed it to Lelouch. She did the same for Milly, before taking out a third gun for herself.

"Are these…" Milly asked.

"Yes, they're real firearms," Kallen said. "I figure that with me being expelled in twelve days and you two in similar trouble, there's no sense in being too cautious about it anymore."

"You… certainly have interesting friends…"

"Say a word of them to anyone else, and I'll kill you. Zero knows the drill."

He nodded.

"But really, you shouldn't want to," Kallen said. "By acting against a Britannian spy, you should realize it could be considered treason against Britannia too, so we're all in the same boat here."

Milly nodded, her cheery attitude gone as the true severity of the crime they had plotted together and were about to commit weighed upon her.

"We still have to go through with it," she said. "Things can't continue like this."

"I'm glad that we agree," Kallen replied. "I take it you've never fired a gun before. Steady yourself, aim for the chest if you can, and pull the trigger. Make sure the safety's off before you fire. There are eight rounds in each." She reached into her bag again. "Here's a second clip for each of you. That's all I've got for now. My friends don't exactly have a lot to spare, but they pack a good punch."

The matter settled, the four thieves resumed their infiltration of Villetta's Palace. They had already thoroughly explored the dungeons, so it was time for them to begin ascending through it. Unfortunately, they quickly learned from her guards that Shadow Villetta's throne room and the Treasure vault adjoining it was at the highest level of the keep, information the lesser Shadows were all too willing to provide when held at gunpoint.

"It figures," Lelouch said. "She thinks she lords over Ashford, so of course she's in the uppermost chamber."

It quickly became clear that the castle was not set up as a space that was actually meant to be lived in. There were familiar rooms, like a larder, kitchen, and a banquet hall ("This must be the cafeteria!" Milly remarked), but the corridors between each room were far more circuitous than necessary, to the point that they seemed maze-like.

"To the Palace's ruler, the whole point must be to keep intruders away from her Treasure," Arthur offered. "The more time we spend chasing our own tails, the weaker we become and the easier for her guards to dispose of."

Indeed, as they continued through the castle, the thieves met increasingly stiff resistance. New and more powerful varieties of Shadows appeared, and in greater numbers than before.

"The Palace is just crawling with Shadows…" Milly said after they finished dispatching another patrol. "Is anyone hurt?"

"Just some scratches and burns," Lelouch said. "Nothing major."

"Good thing we thought ahead to get those first aid kits," Milly murmured. She pulled off a glove for greater finesse, and started daubing some ointment on Lelouch's cuts. At once, they started to scab over and fade.

"Um… it's not supposed to do that, is it? I mean, I'm not complaining, but…"

"I'd chalk it up to cognition, Diamond," Arthur said.

"What do you mean, Tama?" she asked in confusion.

"Well, that ointment's marketed as providing 'Instant Relief', isn't it? That's what people remember when they go shopping for it. In the real world, it takes time to work, but here in the Metaverse, it really is instant!"

"That's awfully convenient," Kallen muttered.

"But to your earlier remark, I'm not surprised that there are so many enemies here, Diamond," Arthur continued. "This is the third consecutive day we've been inside Villetta's Palace, and we've defeated two of her captains back to back. The castle is on high alert, and her Shadow will continue tightening its security."

"The key is for us to move as stealthily as possible through her Palace," Lelouch said. "We have to make it seem like we're not even here, slipping though her halls like phantoms. Failing that, we could simply wait a few days, until she subconsciously lowers her guard, confident that she has us beaten, and then her castle's security would weaken in turn. But we don't want to wait too long if we can help it. We don't know how long it will take us to get through the Palace."

And so they did, darting from one hiding place to the next, sneaking past guards, cloaking themselves in the cover of darkness, and generally making sure that their sudden appearance would be their foe's last surprise.

Still, they didn't kill all of the Shadows that they encountered. When they had a Shadow surrounded and at their mercy, Lelouch would sometimes attempt to persuade it to become one of his masks, and he soon discovered that he could also extort them to part with their belongings. He momentarily felt guilty about this, as it clashed with his ideal of protecting the weak, but sometimes one had to commit evil to defeat the greater evil, and whether out of fear or temperament, they served the oppressive Baroness, so one couldn't really say that the Shadows were innocent anyway. Often the Shadows only had small trinkets, but sometimes they offered useful items, like stones that seemed to faintly glow with vital energy, or what the Shadows called "soul drops" which would relieve some of the mental fatigue accumulated by summoning their Personas when consumed. He also found that Silkies, serving as Shadow Villetta's maids, were particularly easy to exploit, even eager to help him, once they realized that he housed one of their sisters within himself.

Lelouch also made sure to put the power of the Third Eye that Igor had granted him to the test. It was a double-edged technique, as it would sharply narrow his field of perception when used, but what he could see he saw with unmatched clarity. Hidden valuables seemed to call out to him, glowing with a golden shine even through solid objects, giving him an uncanny knack for finding them.

"How did you know that was there, Zero?" Milly said, her eyes widening as he produced a shimmering pearl from it's hiding spot in a side room.

"It just came to me," he said with a smirk.

Dire as their situation was, he was starting to enjoy himself.

But he wouldn't let himself forget why he was there.

Soon, they came to the castle's library. It appeared to be a dead end. Lelouch paused, using the Third Eye to scan the immediate area for threats.

"I don't sense any Shadows here… Spread out and look for clues."

"I'm betting there's some sort of mechanism hidden among the books," Milly said. "It's like that in stories all the time. Maybe it's like that here too. You know, cognition, like Tama said earlier."

"Yes, I'd imagine so too, Diamond."

And so they spread out, each examining a different section of the library.

"Genealogy… Geography… Heraldry… Heredity… History… Honorary Britannians…," Kallen murmured as she scanned over the spines of the books on one of the shelves.

"Areas… Academy… Ancestry… Britannia… Commoners… Discrimination…" Milly read from another.

"Lineage.. Military Training…. Nobility… Numbers…." Arthur said as he clambered from shelf to shelf. "What does it all mean?"

Leouch looked up from the book he was inspecting, 'Valedictorian.'

"These books are all part of Coach Nu's psyche. We can assume that they're subjects that are important to her. Keeping that in mind, a clearer picture of our target emerges!"

"I know you like your theatrics, but don't just keep us waiting, Zero," Kallen said impatiently.

"It means that despite working with the Purists, Villetta is not a full-blooded Britannian herself! I mean, it's pretty obvious if you think about it, Queen. Darker skin like Villetta's is quite rare among the Britannian nobility, as it is descended from the fleeing remnants of European nobility, who rallied around the Emperor in the New World after Napoleon conquered the British Islands and toppled one monarchy after another. Most of those nobles had fairly light skin, as did their retainers, soldiers, and other loyalists who came with them to the New World. From their descendants, the Britannian Empire was born in its modern form."

"Of course," Lelouch continued, "there were some who immigrated to Britannia later, or whose ancestors had been forcibly brought into it through conquest, who managed to distinguish themselves and earn full Britannian citizenship, not just the second-class citizenship of Honorary Brittanians. That was more common early in the reborn Empire's history, when its numbers were still relatively small, and there were vast areas across the new homeland still waiting to be colonized. They needed talented individuals, though that's a part of Britannian history that gets glossed over these days in schools. So I'm guessing that Villetta's family became Britannians in such a manner. But after Darwin published the Origin of the Species, Britannian nobles latched upon and perverted his theories to provide a 'scientific' justification for their own lifestyles and the further oppression of everyone under them. They became obsessed with Britannian ethnic purity, and that trend continues to this day."

"You seem awfully knowledgeable about Brittanian history for someone who slacks off all the time," Kallen said.

"I told you, Queen, I'm ex-nobility," Lelouch replied. "A working knowledge of history is essential to avoid repeating the same mistakes as one's predecessors."

"Aw, Zero, there's no need to be modest," Milly said. "You could just tell her that you're a prince."

"A prince?!" Kallen went rigid, and once again she was wary of him, a sudden hostility entering her gaze. "But that would mean… your father is… the Emperor!"

In an instant, she had crossed the distance between them, and was grasping the collar of his trenchcoat, her claws uncomfortably close to his neck. "What are you playing at, Zero?!" She turned to face Milly. "And now I see why you're so intent on seducing him! If he were to overthrow Britannia and the Emperor, you would become his empress!"

"What?!" Milly gasped. "I like teasing him, but being an Empress... No, that's besides the point! Let go of him, Queen! It's not like that at all!"

"I'm an ex-prince," Lelouch corrected calmly. "My real name is Lelouch vi Britannia. When I confronted my father, Emperor Charles xi Britannia, about the murder of my mother, the Empress Marianne, and he refused to do anything about it, I renounced my claim to the throne." He laughed. "Rest assured, I have no plans of taking it back. Why would I want Britannia's throne when I want to tear it all down anyway?"

Kallen didn't yet loosen her grip, but she was listening to him. That was a good sign.

Lelouch scowled. "Then my father exiled me and my sister to Japan, as political hostages of the Japanese Prime Minister at the time, supposedly a guarantee of Britannina's goodwill, intended to further negotiations over Japan's sakuradite exports. The Japanese Prime Minister planned to use us in political marriages symbolizing the bond between Japan and Britannia. He even wanted to marry my little sister himself," Lelouch said distastefully.

"But it wasn't all bad…" he added. "I met my first real friend outside of the royal family at the Prime Minister's family shrine… Suzaku. That's the rest of my story. I didn't tell you at first, because I thought you would react in just this way if you knew. But nothing I said earlier was a lie. I just omitted a few details."

Kallen glared at him, though he now could see that she was wavering. He had already won, even if she didn't realize it yet.

"As for Diamond over there," he continued, "I'm sure her family at one point thought to have me marry her when I was older, if I ever reclaimed my status as a prince. Headmaster Ruben and the other members of the Ashford family didn't just take us in out of the kindness of their hearts. Even if I didn't marry her, sheltering me over all these years would mean that I'd owe them some favors, and they hoped to be handsomely rewarded, regaining the prestige they lost when my mother, their patron in the royal family, met her untimely end.

He shook his head. "But as the years went on, it became clear that I would not return to being a prince, and that trying to reinstall me as one would be far too dangerous, both for them and for me. The Emperor's other wives never liked the fact that Marianne, born as a commoner, was his favorite… at least, that's what I thought until he acted like he didn't care at all about her death. But the fact remains that many royals and nobles would and did hate us for who we were, and some of them would never abide a disabled girl as a princess of Britannia."

"But Diamond is her own person. Do you know how many noble suitors she's purposefully upset to break up the arranged marriage plans her parents try to come up with for her? I believe it's over two dozen now…"

"Thirty and counting," Milly said with a nervous chuckle. "Do you have any idea how tiring all those marriage interviews are?"

"They must be at their wits' end with you, though your grandfather still spoils you all the same. But as you can see, Queen, Diamond values her own freedom far above wealth or status."

"Still, you have to admit Zero, if I was your wife, you'd be the envy of guys everywhere," Milly said, a Cheshire grin forming on her face.

Lelouch and Kallen just stared at her.

"I'm just kidding! Loosen up, you guys! Jeez!"

"Where were we before we got onto this?"Arthur asked uncomfortably, trying to change the subject. Kallen then released Lelouch and took a step back.

"We were discussing the significance of these books to Villetta," Lelouch said. "The point is that even though she was officially a full Britannian, effectively grandfathered into the system, Villetta still felt looked down on because she wasn't pure-blooded or nobility, with all of the social and economic privileges that those bring. In spite of her aptitude, she may have been passed over for promotion, on account of her bloodline and gender. There are a number of female commanders in the Britannian military these days, including my half-sister Cornelia, but they usually got their officer ranks to start with from being nobles. Large parts of the military are still the old boys' club. Villetta began to believe that the only way she could get the respect that she deserved was if she became a noble herself, and that began to twist her thoughts until she was single-mindedly focused on her own advancement, no matter the cost, which would later spawn this Palace. She allied herself with the Purists, seeing their growing influence in Area 11 as the quickest route toward achieving her goal. Of course, as she wasn't a pureblooded Britannian, ordinarily this should have been impossible for her, unless she was able to convince an existing Purist, either through blackmail or from being less ideologically committed than his compatriots, to vouch for her."

"But what does any of that have to do with finding a way past this room?" Kallen asked testily.

"It's simple." He walked over to the shelves Arthur had been examining. "For Villetta, nobility is the only way forward." He gave one of the books on nobility a pull. A mechanism clicked, and the bookcase slid back and to the side, revealing a staircase behind it. "And so it must be for us, if we are to find our way to the center of her distortion, and hence her Treasure."

"Wow! That's amazing, Zero!" Milly grinned.

"Couldn't you have told us that from the start?" Kallen frowned.

"It's not just brawn and reflexes that brings victory, Queen," Lelouch grinned. "Understanding how your opponent thinks is just as, if not more important."

"Hey, look, I found something else!" Arthur called. He came over, holding a fragment of folded parchment in his mouth by the edges.

"It's a map of the castle! It's not complete, but it should help us plan out our infiltration!"

They found another "safe room", a place where Villetta's distorted cognition of the school was weak, preventing Shadows from manifesting there, at the top of the stairs. They took the opportunity to rest and unfurl the map Arthur had found to find where exactly they were in the castle.

"It seems like we're about a third of the way to our target," Lelouch said. "We're here…." He moved his finger. "And the throne room is over there. How is everyone feeling?" The thrill of the infiltration, of outsmarting his enemies, and knowing that each moment in battle could mean life or death had filled him with adrenaline, and his Personas had supernaturally enhanced his once pitiful-endurance, but even that had its limits. Though he tried not to show it in front of his team, fatigue was creeping up on him, which would certainly be followed by exhaustion.

"I can go further, if the rest of you are okay," Kallen replied.

"I could take a cat nap," Arthur yawned as he stretched out.

"If we push ourselves too hard, we could find ourselves at a disadvantage," Milly cautioned Kallen. "I think we've made good progress for today."

"It seems that we're directly above a courtyard," Lelouch said, pointing it out on his map. "Now that we know we won't be ambushed by Shadows here and sent plummeting to our deaths, we can use rope from the window over there to scale up or down the walls. That will let us bypass much of the castle and keep from tiring ourselves fighting Shadows on the way here next time. It will also let us make a quick escape from the Metaverse now."

"Ooh, a shortcut! I like that," Milly smiled.

"We'll make faster progress through the castle if we can avoid entanglements with Shadow Villetta's guards so… why don't we wait two days for our next infiltration and let Villetta settle into a false sense of security? I think that maintains a good balance progressing through her Palace before our deadline, and making sure that she doesn't have so many guards on the upper levels that we get wiped out."

"That sounds reasonable…" Kallen murmured.

"Makes sense," Arthur said sleepily.

"It's unanimous then," Milly affirmed.

The four thieves withdrew from the Metaverse, tired, but with their pockets (a pouch in Arthur's case) filled with whatever loot they could easily carry and conceal. It was getting late, but fortunately there didn't seem to be any SSDF members on night watch nearby.

"Everyone, keep a low profile in the meantime. Don't draw unwanted attention to yourselves, especially from Coach Nu."

They nodded.

"Good. We'll meet in the same place next time."

"You're home late again, big brother," Nunnally said as he came back to his quarters in the Student Council Clubhouse. She frowned. "I heard Suzaku and Kallen are in trouble. They're saying Suzaku stole things, and that Kallen hit someone. It's not true, is it, Lelouch?"

So she knew about Suzaku and Kallen, but she didn't know of Villetta's plans to expose the 'Lamperouges' as legal fictions. That was a relief. He didn't want Nunnnally to have to worry about such things.

"I'm sure everything will be all right in the end," he told her. "The truth will come out." He would make sure that it did.

"You're not getting into trouble again yourself, are you?" she asked.

"Of course not, Nunnally," he lied.

He helped Nunnally into bed, and then retired to his own room. He didn't have the energy to do anything else today. But once again he thought back to Igor's words.

If he was going to enhance his powers, then having more of a social life seemed the fastest way to strengthen his bonds with his current confidants and to find new ones.

Somehow, that seemed far more difficult than infiltrating a Palace and fighting Shadows.

 _ **Days Until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 11**_

 **A/N: The story still keeps flowing! Though I have resumed efforts writing the next chapter of my other story, Fate/Proto Night now.**

 **The incident Lelouch refers to of Milly trying to show herself off at their first meeting originates from one of the supplementary Code Geass Sound Episodes, "Meeting Milly."**

 **"Nyan nyan" is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound cats make.**

 **I thought I recalled reading somewhere that Milly had managed to break up with 31 suitors before Lloyd in Code Geass, somewhere in supplementary materials. I'm having trouble finding the source of this now, so maybe I'm remembering incorrectly, but we can be sure it's a high number, given that she's done it frequently enough that Clovisland has gained a bad reputation in canon for being a place where couples break up with each other.**

 **The second half of the chapter had a lot of Lelouch talking, so hopefully that wasn't too off-putting. Then again, it is in his character to give grandiose speeches...**

 **Villetta specifically tells Jeremiah in one of the Sound Episodes that her lineage is different than his (e.g. not pure-blooded Britannian herself).**

 **This is the first major chapter not to be directly named in a way that references an episode of Code Geass. I do not imagine that it will be the last, but most chapters will continue either to reference Code Geass or Persona 5 in their titles when possible.**

 **But next up, some Confidants! As several reviewers have noted, having to build his bonds with others distinctly places Lelouch outside of his comfort zone. In spite of all of his similarities with P5's Joker, this is one of the key differences between them. But Lelouch will have to rise to the challenge if he is to defeat Britannia...**


	9. Beneath the Mask

Lelouch fully expected Igor to pull him from his rest and into the Velvet Room yet again, but the long-nosed man apparently was content with leaving him with a night to himself.

No, that wasn't true. Igor and the green-haired sisters resided between dream and reality, and as beings with a clear link to the Metaverse, that meant that they were likely in some way part of him, just as the Shadows that had become his Personas were. Igor was watching him. Perhaps his ability to observe wasn't equal in at all times or locations, for it seemed unlikely that Tsu would have risked saying anything that could be construed as disloyal if she thought Igor was listening in. But from how Igor callously regarded the death of Kallen's brother, did not like having his authority in the Velvet Room questioned, and apparently terrorized Shi, Lelouch was certain that Igor wasn't quite the benevolent mentor to Persona-users, interested only in their "rehabilitation", whatever that really meant, that he liked to portray himself as.

A thought occurred to Lelouch. Were Kallen, Arthur, and Milly also inmates in the Velvet Room? He knew that Kallen's brother had been an inmate there before him, so there could be others. He had seen Kallen and Milly establish contracts with their Personas, and presumably Arthur had done the same before meeting him, so wouldn't that qualify them to enter the Velvet Room?

But none of his companions had mentioned Igor or the sisters. To be fair, he hadn't told them about Igor either, but he liked to hold his secrets close - though circumstances had compelled him to reveal his past to Kallen so she wouldn't murder him, and the nature of his ability meant he would need to find more people he could entrust at least a few of his secrets with. His past was not one he planned to share outside of his band of Metaverse thieves though unless it could not be avoided.

Still, what was Igor's game? Igor kept bringing up "Ragnarok", which Lelouch knew from mythology as the "Twilight of the Gods", the climatic battle of Norse mythology, in other words, the end of the world as it was known. But Lelouch doubted that Igor just wanted him to slay some frost giants and a giant wolf. It had to be some deeper mystery.

He didn't really care if Igor was some sort of devil, or if he had condemned his soul for eternity by dealing with him. He would do whatever it took to protect his sister and bring down his father's empire. His soul would be but a small price to pay. But it didn't stop him from wondering what exactly Igor's true motives were.

Then again, until Igor had pledged the services of the Velvet Room to him, he hadn't actually had a contract with Igor. The first contract that he had made was with that mysterious voice, who had unlocked his powers and let him awaken to Arsene. Hadn't she said that he would need to "make my one wish come true?" It was curious that she hadn't specified what that wish was. Could it be something so terrible that he would refuse to make a contract with her if he knew what it was? Come to think of it, the voice had sounded an awful lot like Tsu's. If it was really her, perhaps it was because she couldn't say what her wish was, lest Igor discover it. In a sense, she already owned his soul, or rather, whatever pieces of it he executed to create new Personas, and sold them back to him for pizza money. He chuckled at the thought. He could do a lot worse as far as Faustian pacts were concerned.

As he headed to class, Ashford Academy felt more oppressive than it had usually been since the founding of the SSDF. Some of that feeling was of course from the knowledge that he was working under a deadline, which could well prove a death sentence for his sister if Villetta chose to report them, which of course she would do if she managed to put together exactly who they were. Ruben Ashford wouldn't be able to offer her enough in blackmail money or whatever other favors she had in mind next to what members of the royal family could offer her. A grateful royal might even grant her the coveted title of baroness outright for discovering the lost Eleventh Prince and his sister. Whether they would ask Villetta to kill the offspring of the commoner Empress to seal the deal, or would simply seek to turn them into political pawns once again depended on who the royal in question was. She would most likely approach Prince Clovis, as he would be the easiest royal to secure an audience with, given that he was already the Viceroy of Area 11. Clovis had always been kind to him and Nunnally, but he couldn't say that he knew his half-brother anymore. As Viceroy, Clovis had displayed what would have once been an uncharacteristically heavy hand in his treatment of the Japanese.

But there was more to his mood than just the looming threat posed by Villetta. There was now a certain melancholy mixed into it. In the Metaverse, he had supernatural abilities, and while he still wore a mask there, he could let more of his true personality out. But at Ashford, or the real world in general for that matter, he had no special powers, besides being able to perceive Tsu and the entrance to the Velvet Room, meaning he was as weak as he had always been.

At least it was a familiar routine for him, as he settled beneath the mask of Lelouch Lamperouge.

"Did you hear? Kallen got suspended!" A girl whispered to her friend as he passed through the halls.

"She barged into the Headmaster's office and slugged a member of the SSDF!"

"I didn't know she had it in her… She always seemed so fragile…"

"Why would she do such a thing?"

"Sometimes people just snap…"

"I doubt Coach Nu will let her out of gym classes when she gets back though…"

That was interesting. Lelouch had assumed that Villetta would leak Kallen's heritage to the student body at the earliest opportunity, to preemptively poison the well against her at the disciplinary hearing. Nor were the girls talking about Kallen's imminent expulsion, just her suspension. He had to give Ruben Ashford some credit. Whatever the headmaster had offered Villetta, it had been enough to buy her silence on the matter… for now. Villetta would no doubt reveal that information when it came time for the hearing, which would of course sink Kallen's case, no matter what other evidence was presented.

Then again, Villetta was probably blackmailing Lord Stadtfeld too, with the threat of revealing that he had fathered a child with a Japanese woman. That was actually the most likely scenario. The Stadtfeld family was in better standing than the Ashford family, so withholding that information would be far more lucrative for her if Lord Stadtfeld was also paying her to do so. And if Villetta had been able to discover that secret so quickly, it wouldn't be long before she discovered that both of Lord Stadtfeld's children had been with the same woman, and that his elder son had died under mysterious circumstances. What exactly happened if one died in the Metaverse anyway? Would your body be stuck there, possibly being devoured by the more feral Shadows? Or would it return to the real world? In any case, once Villetta knew of his death, there was a risk that she would be able to connect him to whatever resistance group Kallen was associated with, making her situation, not to mention that of her father and the headmaster, far worse.

Was refraining from exploring Villetta's Palace for even a single day, let alone two, cutting things too close? Lelouch hated being uncertain in his decision. They might have only half as much time as their nominal deadline before Villetta had definite proof of treason on her hands, which wouldn't just mean expulsion for Kallen, but the death penalty. Though Villetta might not even need such proof, if she could just manufacture a link between Kallen and some rebel group, real or fictitious.

One thing was clear to him though: they needed to do everything possible to reach the throne room, and hopefully steal Villetta's Treasure, on their next excursion into the Palace. Realistically though, he would have to budget an additional day for the actual heist. The defenses around the Treasure could be fairly elaborate, possibly requiring specialized equipment and careful planning to remove successfully, and they wouldn't know exactly what they needed until they had cased the Treasure's vault.

The fact that they had been able to take objects from the Metaverse back to the real world, such as the pearl he had stolen from Shadow Villetta, now resting in one of his pockets, was an encouraging sign that the heist could work in principle. But one matter about the Treasure was bugging him. If it was really the manifestation of Villetta's distorted desires, what sort of form would it take? It could be too large for them to carry… Or, perhaps it might not be something tangible at all…

No. Shadow Villetta wouldn't have even considered that Kallen's brother might be in her Palace to steal her Treasure if doing so wasn't at least possible. And if moving the Treasure presented an unforeseen complication, they would find a way around it. They had to.

Villetta couldn't help but sneer at him during gym class, a malicious look glinting in her eyes. More than ever, he could see her Shadow watching him through them. According to Jung, a Shadow was one's repressed subconscious thoughts and desires. He recalled a quote he had encountered once while reading through a book on psychology so that he might better understand his opponents. "It must be the conscious personality who integrates the shadow ... and _not_ vice versa. Otherwise the conscious becomes the slave of the autonomous shadow."

He had seen that Shadows could become his Personas. Arsene himself may well have once been his own, original Shadow Lelouch, the embodiment of the not entirely forgotten but buried drive to rebel against his father and avenge his mother and sister, which his conscious self had put aside as an impossible dream. Yet with the help of the voice, he had recognized and come to an understanding with the Shadow dwelling within himself, finally finding the resolve to fight back as he masked himself in the newborn Persona of Arsene, the demonic gentleman thief. Suzaka Gozen was similarly born from Kallen's death wish after the loss of her brother, which had driven her to rebel with reckless abandon until Shadow Villetta had thrown the true nature of that drive in her face. With his help, she had faced that self-destructive side of herself and harnessed it to be her protector, bringing death to her foes instead. Milly was always throwing parties and indulging in make-believe not only to raise the spirits of her friends, to make herself forget how unhappy she really was with her parents trying to decide her future for her. Medea turned her whimsical "spells" into actual magic, and woe befall the man who would take her freedom from her.

But Villetta…

Villetta had been consumed from within by her own Shadow. Save that Villetta was not fully aware of everything that her Shadow was privy to, there was no longer any meaningful distinction between the two, forcing her once-forbidden impulses to the surface. The Shadow now wore the mask of a gym teacher, but it was a demon free to wreak whatever havoc it wanted and selfishly pursue its desires unrestrained by compassion or compunction.

Shadow Villetta exacted revenge upon him through her real world self, taking delight as he gasped for air, his muscles burned, and he felt his throat parch with how many laps she was making him run.

"Faster, Lelouch! You're barely putting any effort into it!" she barked at him.

He complied with the unreasonable request, even though his body was screaming at him, without offering a word of protest. Let Villetta think she had him beaten… he would only have to endure this for a few more days.

But no matter how Villetta seemed determined to make gym more of a hell for him than it already was, Suzaku had it worse.

"Why is he still here?"

"He stole something but Kallen's the one who's suspended?"

"They say they're 'finishing the investigation'. But there's no doubt that they're going to expel him when they're done."

"Do you think he's dangerous?"

"I wouldn't get too close to him if I were you."

"You know, I heard that he's been using illegal performance-enhancing drugs."

"He's a cheater then. I knew there was no way an Eleven could outperform us Britannians."

So Villetta had already started fabricating more evidence against Suzaku, and she had started by spreading rumors designed to destroy his reputation in the one area where he was respected by much of the student body.

Lelouch couldn't say that he was surprised.

The Student Council met to review weekly business, but there was little of the energy that the meetings had once had. Instead of planning wacky events, the meeting was mostly just the drudgery of reading through and approving club and budget reports. Shirley was unfocused, frequently staring off into space, and spoke little during the meeting. Milly was trying to act like her old self, but she too was distracted, and her efforts fell flat in the room's glum mood. Rivalz seemed to sense that something was wrong, but neither Shirley nor Milly would say what was bothering them. Then there was Nina…

"Umm… we have here a petition for recognition and funding of the SSDF as an official student organization," the bespectacled girl said shyly.

Nina Einstein looked plain next to Shirley or Milly, her dark green hair cut short save for two thin braids framing her face and falling to her shoulders. Whereas Shirley usually reported business for the sports clubs, Nina usually handled the academic clubs, and would often be lost in some experiment or the other in her free time. She didn't have many friends outside of the Student Council, and a major reason that she had joined was that she was a childhood friend of Milly's, as both of their grandfathers had once worked on developing the Ganymede, the prototype 3rd-generation Knightmare Frame test-piloted by the future Empress Marianne vi Britannia, which had served as the technological basis of all Knightmare Frames produced since.

The breakthrough should have made the Ashford family wealthy beyond its wildest dreams, and as a senior engineer on the project, Nina's grandfather would have profited handsomely as well. However, the research costs of the project had been enormous, and paired with Ruben Ashford's own penchant for lavish parties in his younger days, their company had been unable to sustain itself when they lost the political backing of Empress Marianne.

In spite of the debacle, the Einsteins and Ashfords still maintained close ties with each other, but the issue of the SSDF had strained Nina and Milly's relationship, causing an even more awkward silence to settle over the Student Council as she read the proposal. Nina wasn't formally a member of the SSDF herself, but she was sympathetic to them, and the timing of the petition left Lelouch with the distinct impression that Coach Nu had put her up to it, as if to say to Milly "Vote no and I'll squeeze your grandfather even harder."

"Um… support among the student body for the SSDF has been slowly growing for weeks," Nina said nervously. "And after yesterday's incident with the Eleven, we seem to have reached a tipping point in student opinion." Lelouch thought better than to correct her casually racist remark. "I… I feel safer knowing that they're keeping watch over campus."

"We've been over this before, Nina…" Milly said wearily. "You're asking us to sanction what amounts to a student vigilante group…"

"They wouldn't be vigilantes if they had the recognition of the student council."

"They're self-important, and they think they have the right to boss other students around," Lelouch scowled. "Do you know why Kallen punched one of them yesterday? It was because of how roughly they were manhandling her. They were about to drag her away. Is that the sort of behavior that we want to condone?"

"No…" Nina began, "But…"

"I'm glad that she showed them that some flowers have thorns," Lelouch continued. "I can't say I'm too surprised by her sudden show of strength either. That sort of fight-or-flight response kicks in when you're in danger, and the adrenaline can let people perform feats they'd never otherwise be capable of. I heard they were some pretty big guys. She was probably afraid that they'd take advantage of her weak constitution to treat her in an unseemly way once they were out sight of teachers."

"They… wouldn't…" Nina protested weakly, but Lelouch could see a sudden wave of anxiety cross her face, a reaction she usually only showed for Japanese people.

"Can you be sure?" Lelouch shrugged. "When some people get power, it goes to their head."

"We're all feeling down," Milly said diplomatically, yet at the same time seizing the initiative as Nina struggled to come up with a response. "We shouldn't vote on something this important when we don't have clear heads. Let's table the motion for now and bring it up again next week."

It was good maneuver on Milly's part. By simply not holding a vote on the issue, she could forestall a further consolidation of Coach Nu's power, and she maintained plausible deniability as far as the student body was concerned, as she hadn't actually voted against it.

"All in favor of tabling the motion?"

"Aye," a chorus of voices unenthusiastically stated. After a moment, Nina whispered her own "Aye", whether out of newfound doubt or yielding to the peer pressure of her fellow Student Council Members.

"The motion has been tabled until next week," Milly announced.

The meeting over, Shirley excused herself, and Rivalz departed shortly afterwards. Nina however remained, seated dejectedly at the table.

"What's wrong, Nina?" Milly asked.

"I can't believe they'd treat Kallen that way…" Nina murmured. "It's not really true, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," Lelouch replied.

"But they're doing some good… aren't they?" She glanced up at Milly. "But you probably just want to drop the subject." She paused. "There is… something else that's been on my mind though… I didn't want to bring it up at the meeting though… because I thought it would be too selfish."

"You know you can tell us anything, Nina," Milly said. "We're still friends."

"Um… okay… There's a science project I've been working on my own time, outside of the clubs… But it's going to take a lot of materials to complete and… it's too expensive for me to just put in a budget request…. It wouldn't be fair to the clubs."

Lelouch suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Kallen, Milly, and Arthur outside of the mall the day before.

"But don't look at me… I'm a cat… I can't exactly mix chemicals together," Arthur had said.

"If only someone didn't spend half of his time sleeping through chemistry class…" Kallen's voice echoed in his mind.

Who in the room not only paid attention but was riveted by her science classes, and had had the laboratory know-how to some serious chemistry?

Nina Einstein did.

Given her anti-Japanese attitude and loyalty to Britannia, Nina normally wouldn't have been the first person he would have thought to turn to. But if he chose his words well, she presented an opportunity for him.

"What sort of materials do you need, Nina?" He asked cautiously, trying to seem casual.

"I'm just prototyping at this stage," Nina replied. "So I could use some scrap tin… some spools of silk yarn… it has to be strong enough… and some natural oils…"

What an eclectic list…What exactly was she making? But… they did have some of that, among the more apparently useless trinkets that the Shadows had thought to bargain for their lives with. The only reason Lelouch hadn't discarded them earlier was that they had at least some potential value in being sold to fund the purchase of other supplies. He had thought some crafts shop might take them. But now…

"What a coincidence. I may have some of those things. Can you wait a few minutes?"

She nodded.

When he returned, he spread a small pile of materials in front of Nina. "I think this is what you asked for. And I'll thrown in these thick pieces of parchment for good measure. Maybe you can find a use for them."

Her eyes widened.

"Where did you find all of this?"

"I know a place."

She looked at him with a hint of suspicion, but after a moment she seemed to banish the thought, as if she couldn't bring herself to believe that her fellow Student Council members might be involved in what she feared. She glanced back at the materials, and then spoke up slightly. "It's a lot to ask… but can you find more?"

"I can keep an eye out for any such supplies that you might need."

"What can I do… to repay you?"

"Milly and I were discussing some ideas for an event… a play.., but it needs some props. Do you think you could make something so that a character could make a dramatic entrance or exit? Like… an evil sorcerer, vanishing in a column of smoke."

Nina thought about it for a moment. "If I mix potassium nitrate, sugar, and baking soda… Yes, I think I can do that."

Nina led them over to a small science lab set aside for the use of the academic clubs. "We have the necessary reactants here."

Nina was very quiet as she worked, focused on her task, carefully measuring out the reactants and packaging them together. Some time later, she had finished, handing over half a dozen handmade smoke bombs.

"Here you go," she said. "Let me know if they work. I can make more if you need them…. But if you can bring me more material…"

"Don't worry, Nina. It's a deal," he told her.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Hermit Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

"Really, Lelouch, I didn't think that you would rope Nina into things," Milly whispered when they were out of earshot. "You realize you've made her into an accomplice."

"Do I detect disapproval in your voice, Madam President?"

"She'll get in trouble too if we're found out!"

"Then we'll make sure that we aren't."

"What I do know Lelouch is that we will be staging a play when this is over… with a evil sorcerer, and perhaps a beautiful damsel in distress! I can't wait to see what costume I can stick you in!"

"Wait- hold on!"

"Honestly, Lelouch, did you think we wouldn't be having a play after that story you told Nina? Otherwise she'd wonder where those 'props' are going."

"You've got me there."

"It's your punishment," she grinned mischievously. "But don't worry! It'll be fun!"

"Just like old times…"

 _ **Days until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 10**_

 **A/N:**

 **The items Nina requested happen to be some of the materials used for the crafting of infiltration tools in Persona 5, and making such devices for the Black Knights will be the primary benefit of her Confidant to Lelouch, other than strengthening Hermit Personas. Of course, she doesn't know that she's helping the future Black Knights. And she would refuse to make anything that clearly serves no purpose but to commit a crime... at least at first. But perhaps she might one day be persuaded by a certain someone to cross that line...**

 **Also, as much as I've been making progress on this, it's been brought to my attention that there were a pair of fairly glaring typos in this chapter. These have been to my knowledge fixed now, but if anyone would finds more, if you could PM me about it, I can fix it. I am also still looking for a beta reader for this story, so again, PM me if you are interested.**


	10. Blooming Villetta

Rumors about Kallen and Suzaku continued to fly around Ashford Academy, and Villetta showed no sign of letting up. These only intensified with Kallen's return to school. The story Lelouch had told the Student Council gave her some cover for her actions, particularly her sudden strength, and Kallen adopted the explanation as her own, which generally seemed to satisfy the girls who usually accompanied Kallen at lunch, bemoaning that she had been suspended while Suzaku had not, but guys seemed to give her a wide berth now, and Lelouch had no doubt that those girls would turn on her the moment they knew she was half-Japanese.

Villetta's hostility toward Kallen had only increased. While she did not reveal Kallen's heritage for now, per whatever understanding she had reached after blackmailing Ruben Ashford and Lord Stadtfeld, her body language made it clear that if Kallen stepped out of line again before her hearing, that secret would slip out. In the meantime, Villetta openly heaped verbal abuse upon Kallen for her non-participation in gym if she was clearly healthy enough to take down a larger boy, grinning maliciously as she asked what Kallen had been hiding from them all this time, and berating Kallen for not putting her best effort forward.

Kallen took it all while carefully maintaining her now cracked mask of being a meek, feeble girl, but Lelouch could tell she was brimming with frustration. If she gave into Villetta's taunting with a sustained show of physical strength, then she would play into Villetta's hands, shattering that mask entirely and proving to all that her sickness was indeed a sham. The woman was devious. Claims of "adrenaline" and being "fearful" wouldn't be enough for Kallen to salvage the situation if she fell into that trap, and in the meantime Villetta made sure to blast her for maligning her fellow students in the SSDF, who only wanted to keep the school safe and free from "dangerous influences," by which Villetta meant Japanese people like herself and Suzaku. Perhaps Villetta was even trying to provoke Kallen into striking her. The penalties for attacking a teacher would be far more severe than those for punching another student, and then Villetta might fight back with her SSDF goons, claiming self defense.

All of it only strengthened his resolve to see that the Metaverse heist was a success.

After school, Lelouch reached out to some of the contacts he had made in the Tokyo Settlement over the course of his gambling career, calling in few favors to determine where he could sell the items he had 'acquired' from Villetta's Palace without awkward questions being asked. He was referred to a shady antiques dealer, operating out of one of the malls in the Tokyo Concession.

The shop was an inconspicuous place from the outside, though on the inside it seemed more than a little creepy, dimly lit and with all sorts of bizarre masks and sculptures that made Lelouch wander if he had wandered into a store dealing in the occult instead, but he managed to clamp down on whatever unease he felt long enough to negotiate a price for his finds. The pearl was he most individually valuable item, followed by some silver cutlery he had nicked from Shadow Viletta's dining room, and some old copper coins that, while not particularly rare themselves, still were of enough interest to collectors to be worth more than their minted value. In all, he walked away with quite a bit more than his usual take from gambling. It wasn't bad for an afternoon's work. Of course, lucrative as the Metaverse had proved itself to be, it was much more dangerous than gambling, and the money was only a means to an end for Lelouch.

There was still time left in the afternoon, so after restocking on supplies for the next day's trip into the Metaverse, he decided on a whim to drop by the bar where Rivalz worked part-time. Might his friend emerge as another "confidant?" He already trusted Rivalz to drive him around to his chess matches. He of course wouldn't tell Rivalz about the Metaverse, Personas, or their plans to steal Villetta's Treasure, as Rivalz had no need to know about such things, but as Suzaku and Nina had already proved, that was hardly a requirement. He knew it was cynical to use his friends in such a way, to harness the power their bonds might offer him, but Villetta and his own plans of rebellion against Britannia didn't leave him much of a choice.

"Oh, hi buddy!" Rivalz called out as he saw Lelouch. "I didn't expect to see you here!" Lowering his voice as Lelouch came over he said, "It stinks that we can't get out to chess matches like we used to during the day, but I can't exactly skip work after school, can I?"

"There's no need to apologize, Rivalz."

"Anything I can get for you while you're here, Lelouch?" he asked. "Um… well, don't ask for alcohol or anything. It would be different if I was bringing champagne in for Madam President, but I can't be seen serving it to another minor on the job."

"What do you recommend?"

"Well, the coffee's pretty good here. How about it, Lelouch? It looks like you could use some around now too."

Rivalz could tell that he was feeling tired? His last several nights hadn't exactly been restful with everything that was going on. That was nothing suspicious in of itself, as the Student Council was generally stressed at the moment, he had to look worse than he thought if his friend was commenting on it.

"Isn't it late for coffee?" Lelouch asked.

"If you have it now, it should pick you up and help you get through the rest of the day, without keeping you from being able to fall asleep tonight. People say they feel more awake after the first sip!"

"Fine. You win, Rivalz. How much?"

"It's on me, buddy."

Rivalz came back a short time later with a steaming cup of coffee. Gingerly sipping it, lest he burn his tongue, the pleasant aroma of the coffee filled Lelouch's nostrils, and indeed, the smell alone seemed to rejuvenate him.

A thought occurred to him. If cognition caused medical supplies to work nearly instantly in the Metaverse, might coffee have similar efficacy there at alleviating the mental fatigue caused by summoning a Persona?

"You know, I think I'll have to come here more often," Lelouch said. "This is quite good."

"Any time, Lelouch. And if there's anything you feel like you need to get off your chest, I'm happy to listen. I mean, bartenders do that sort of thing all the time."

"It's good to know I can count on you, Rivalz."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Temperance Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

Lelouch left with a bag of the bar's special coffee blend. It could come in handy.

 _ **Days until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 9**_

xXx

Lelouch, Kallen, Arthur, and Milly met outside Ashford Academy again and entered the Metaverse after school. While Kallen's suspension had ended the day before, she had no illusions that she would be expelled or worse if they didn't steal Villetta's Treasure soon.

"It wouldn't be such a big deal," Kallen said, in her Metaverse costume as Queen. "I mean, I have friends I can turn to outside of the Academy. I can even disappear if I need to."

Doubtlessly, Kallen meant disappearing among her friends in the Resistance. He could see Milly shifting slightly with unease when Kallen alluded to being a member of the Japanese resistance, which was synonymous with a terrorist to Britannians. Some actually were terrorists, and would think nothing of holding students hostage if they thought it would advance their goals. Yet in spite of her momentary misgivings, Milly was in the end a very open-minded person, as she demonstrated with her next words.

"As long as you're at Ashford to learn and you're willing to make friends, I'll see to it that you're welcomed there. I know that Coach Nu and the SSDF give a bad impression, but we're not all like that. You'd be missing out if you never got the chance to join us on the Student Council. After we steal this Treasure, I'll make sure that it happens. Besides, we're all partners in crime now."

Kallen opened her mouth slightly, but paused for a moment, as if she couldn't quite believe that Milly was so willing to accept her.

"My brother wanted me to receive an education…" she said slowly. "That's something too few Japanese people can get these days. He wanted me to have a future when everything was over…"

"You will, Queen," Lelouch reassured her. "You remember what I told you when you awakened to your Persona."

She nodded.

"Good."

As they reviewed their plans, and Lelouch handed out coffee to the group, to Kallen's initial confusion before he explained his hypothesis, Lelouch suddenly noticed something odd besides the gateway leading into Villetta's Palace - another door to the Velvet Room, this time guarded by Shi.

"Your teammates cannot see or hear me," she said quietly, "just the people of the Tokyo Settlement could not see or hear my sister. Their contracts are not the same as yours. My Master thought to open this doorway to you so that you would find it more convenient in the future if you wish to create new Personas while already in the Metaverse." She shuddered slightly, no doubt remembering the execution of Arsene and Bicorn.

"Hey, Zero, are you okay?" Milly asked suddenly in concern. "You just seemed to zone out for a moment, staring past Queen."

"Yes, I'm alright." That was one mystery solved, but there was no sense in trying to explain the Velvet Room to them right now, not when they had no way of experiencing it. Doing so would only be a distraction from the task before them.

Shadow Villetta had indeed eased her defenses, greatly simplifying the infiltration. There were fewer Shadows that they had to fight, and the cover provided by one of Nina's smoke bombs let them withdraw from disadvantageous encounters, leaving the guards wondering which way they had gone. They had much more ground to cover this time, and so the coffee helped keep them alert and refreshed, so they could continue using their Personas. From the safe room in the library, they continued to move furtively through the Palace, eventually reaching the battlements, which surrounded a short tower that stood higher than the rest of the keep. If there was one place Villletta had maintained a tight guard, it was here.

"They never learn, do they?" Kallen asked as Suzuka Gozen dispatched another Berith, a Shadow that took the form of a mounted knight, but in black armor instead of the red of the guard captain they had fought earlier, and noticeably smaller. Berith's lance packed a punch if one was careless enough to let their Persona get hit by it, but while it did not have a particular weakness to either of Suzaka Gozen's primary modes of attack, few Shadows could stand up against her raw physical power or nuclear fury. On Lelouch's part, Silky's ice spells could easily freeze Berith in its tracks, halting the knight's charge and giving him a chance to persuade it to join his side.

As they entered the central tower, they noticed that the structure of the castle no longer seemed entirely stable, which the thieves took as an indication that they were nearing the source of Villetta's distortion. Portions of the floor moved up and down in constant flux, and there were some areas were there simply wasn't any floor at all. The tower was decorated with a number statues depicting Villetta successively crushing her rivals, from a young man in a cadet uniform, to a series of officials, to Shirley Fenette, to Villetta standing triumphantly over a pile of helpless victims. After a moment, the thieves realized that the victims were themselves, sans Arthur, plus Suzaku Kururugi and Ruben Ashford.

"We'll see about that," Lelouch laughed.

As they continued to explore the central tower, they found a secret passage, hidden behind a portrait of Villetta. They soon found that the passage led down to the lower floors, once the hidden door at the bottom was opened from the inside by a switch, and did not appear to be guarded. Presumably, Shadow Villetta used it to move through her castle quickly, but now it would serve as a shortcut for the thieves, aiding any future infiltration efforts.

Slipping into the throne room was easier than they expected. The grand doors of its main entrance were of course locked, and apparently bolted from the other side, but there was nearby balcony above them, with a smaller door which also seemed to lead into the throne room. Clambering up to the balcony with rope, Kallen proved that she had made good use of the days of her suspension when she produced a lock pick, and used it to secure their entrance.

The throne room, which also served as Shadow Villetta's audience chamber, was vast, seeming more like one for a queen than a baroness. Shadow Villetta herself was there, seated on her throne, as a Cognitive SSDF member delivered a report to her, while Shadows in the guise of knights stood at attention on either side.

"They're back here, you useless fool! Those patrols didn't just disappear on their own! They're only a few thieves! Why can't you apprehend them?"

Shadow Villetta's rant unwittingly gave the thieves the perfect cover to make their approach, as her guards were focused on her rather than the intruders creeping through the gallery above, and nor did they hear the doors to Villetta's Treasure room opening. Evidently she didn't feel the need to secure it separately when she already believed her throne room, the only means of access to the Treasure, to be locked tight. Such sloppy thinking was typical of Britannian arrogance.

"What is that?" Kallen asked as she saw Villetta's Treasure.

"Can we even steal it?" Milly murmured.

"Don't tell me it was all for nothing," Arthur moaned as he looked up.

It was seemingly the worst-case scenario. Villetta's Treasure was simply a swirling ball of energy floating in the center of the room, the air seeming to distort around it. Intangible, there was no way that they could simply carry it off.

"No…" Lelouch said pacing, keeping his voice down so that Shadow Viletta wouldn't hear them in the next room. "There has to be a solution to this…" And after a moment, it came to him.

"What do we know about the Metaverse, and more specifically, Villetta's Palace?" he asked.

"It's a world of her cognition," Arthur replied.

"Right," said Lelouch. "Shadow Villetta recognizes that her Treasure is something that can be stolen. Otherwise she wouldn't bother protecting it, however ineptly. But what is a Treasure?"

"My brother thought it was the root of her twisted desires."

"Good. Now, would the Villetta back in the real world consciously think of her deepest desires as something that can be stolen?"

"Who would?" Milly said.

"Exactly. Villetta's cognition of her Treasure as "something that can be stolen" is not quite strong enough for it to take a physical form here, so as it stands, stealing it is in fact impossible."

"So… we'd have to change her cognition somehow," Arthur mused. "But how?"

Lelouch grinned. "We tell the real Villetta that we're going to steal it."

"Are you insane?" Kallen snapped. "We're already on thin ice at Ashford! We don't need to give her the excuse to spill our secrets and push for expelling us right away!"

"Of course we're not going to walk up to her and tell her in person, Queen," Lelouch said. "We'll anonymously leave a calling card. Even if she guesses that it's from us, at the least it gives us plausible deniability."

"Ooh! Just like a proper phantom thief would!" Milly said, her eyes twinkling. "I like it! You always did have a flair for the theatrical, Zero."

"Let's withdraw for now then," Lelouch said. "We'll prepare the calling card, and we'll steal her Treasure at the first opportunity tomorrow."

"This had better work, Zero," Kallen muttered.

 _ **Days until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 8**_

xXx

"What is the meaning of this?" Villetta Nu fumed, her hands trembling with fury as she clutched a bright red card. On one side, there were a stylized black figure, almost looking like a chess piece, but with a helmet that served as a mask. The other side had a printed message that was in a font made to look like letters cut out of newspapers and magazines.

"To would-be Baroness Villetta Nu, the monster of envy: For too long, you have terrorized Ashford Academy in the guise of a teacher. Driven by your insatiable desires, you commit blackmail, forge evidence, and subject your team to outrageous abuse for your own advancement . Your reign is now over, for by the by the end of the day we shall steal your twisted desires from your heart and make you confess your crimes with your own mouth. From, the Black Knights."

The cards had been conspicuously posted in multiple locations across the Academy's grounds, all without the members of her SSDF noticing. It was a Sunday, but Ashford was a boarding school and students were up and about to go to their clubs or head off campus for the day, so now everyone was gossiping about it!

"Abuse… are they talking about the swim team?"

"Have you seen them when they get out of practice? They look almost as if they want to cry."

"Who are these Black Knights?" another was saying.

"Could they be terrorists?"

"I've never heard of them before."

"It's probably just a prank."

"They're trying to smear Coach Nu's reputation," an SSDF member scowled.

"Where was the SSDF when these were posted?" A student next to him asked sharply. "I thought they were supposed to be keeping us safe on night watch. What's the point if they can't even catch a few miscreants?"

At once Villetta knew who had to be responsible - the students who had been in the Headmaster's Office with her when she had Kururugi framed and dragged in! There three of them were, watching her reaction: Lelouch, the Headmaster's spoiled grandaughter, and the halfbreed!

"You dare threaten me?"she demanded, storming up to them. "You will regret this foolish prank! And what's this nonsense about stealing from my heart? Which of you came up with such a ridiculous idea?"

But in spite of her assertion, Villetta felt as if a dagger had been thrust at her heart. What if her desires really could be stolen? Her desires were more precious to her than any treasure, for they gave her purpose and the will to go on. If her Treasure was stolen, then….

xXx

Lelouch watched as the world suddenly flickered and twisted around them, and then there was Shadow Villetta standing in the hallway.

"I've crushed stronger foes than you," she sneered. "Come and steal my Treasure… if you can!"

The world returned to normal. "Well?" Villetta demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Coach Nu," Lelouch said with feigned innocence. "But you seem awfully flustered by that message. Could it be true?"

"I will see that all three of you are expelled for this! So enjoy your little prank while you still can! Not even being the headmaster's favorites will protect you for long!"

Villetta marched off, no doubt to shout at the headmaster.

"It is done," Lelouch said. "Her cognition that her desires can in fact be stolen will likely fade if not acted upon. We know what we have to do now."

They all nodded.

Upon entering the Metaverse, Lelouch paused only to create new Personas in the Velvet Room, using the door guarded by Shi. He paid Tsu to recall Bicorn from the Persona Compendium, and then handed it over with Pixie to the sisters.

"You really have it in for me, don't you?" Bicorn grumbled.

"I had hoped to be there with you," Pixie said, "but promise me that my sacrifice won't be in vain. When I'm reborn as a new Persona, you'll use me to save the girl, right?"

"I promise," Lelouch said solemnly.

"Thank you," Pixie smiled. "I can die without regrets now."

"Let's just get the execution over with," Tsu said.

"Do we have to?" Shi asked.

"Of course," Igor replied. "How is the Trickster to complete his rehabilitation otherwise? You will do your part in this, Shi."

Shi frowned, but did as she was told. A short time later, the guillotine blades descended, killing Pixie and Bicorn, but as before a new Persona was born: Slime, a gelatinous green blob with a surly expression. Lelouch felt a surge of energy flow into the newborn Persona, fortifying it and unlocking hidden potential within it, while images of Kallen flashed through his mind. It was his bond with her, the Chariot, that was the source of this new power.

Lelouch wasn't done. Next, he executed Silky and Jack o'Latern, creating Genbu, the black tortoise that had been the namesake of Suzaku's father. Memories of his time with Rivalz and enjoying the coffee at the bar flowed by, filling the Temperance Persona with strength. Unlike Silky, whom he had sacrificed, Genbu was invulnerable to ice spells, but they shared a weakness to electricity.

Shi's golden eyes were tinged red after the executions from tears that she couldn't fully hold back, though she didn't break down sobbing like last time.

"I'm sorry," Lelouch told her as he left the Velvet Room.

Lelouch earned some funny and concerned looks from his teammates as he returned.

"Hey, Zero, don't go staring off like that!" Kallen said. "This isn't the time to be having second thoughts!"

"I was just collecting my thoughts," Lelouch said. In a loose sense, it wasn't exactly a lie. It would certainly be easier for Kallen to understand than the full truth. "I'm ready. It's time to prove to everyone that life at Ashford Academy can - no, will change."

Villetta's Palace had a flashing red ambience to it now, reflecting the alarm in Villetta's psyche. Her guards were on alert, but they were no match for the newly dubbed "Black Knights", knights for justice, as Lelouch had explained when writing the calling card. Before long the four Black Knights had reached the secret passage, quickly ascending through it up to Villetta's throne room.

There, where the Treasure had once been formless, was a golden scepter, inlaid with jewels

"It looks like your idea about sending a calling card worked after all, Zero!" Arthur said excitedly.

"I didn't imagine it would be so easy," Milly said as she picked up Villetta's Treasure.

"It's not," Lelouch replied as they turned to depart. "There should have been guards posted here after we sent the calling card, but we were allowed to walk in. It can only be some sort of trap. We'll have to be ready to fight our way out."

"How right you are!" Shadow Villetta's voice laughed, stepping out from behind her throne.

"I'm impressed," she said. "To think that such lowly thieves would actually pose a threat to me… if you hadn't thrown your lot in with these rebels, Lelouch, think of what you could have accomplished serving Britannia. Instead you'll die a miserable traitor's death with the rest of them."

"Out of the question. Yet you still serve them, despite how you were discriminated against for your own heritage."

"I was the top of my class!" Shadow Villetta shouted. "I slaved away for that, spending long hours studying and practicing harder than anyone else! But I was passed over for the honors I was due in favor of a nobleman's brat! They looked down upon me and my brothers! I swore that I would become a noble myself one day, so they would have to respect us!"

"So you chose to perpetuate the same evils instead of fighting against them!" Kallen shouted back.

"Resisting Britannia is futile! Everything I've worked for would be meaningless if I turned my back on Britannia now!"

"And you say you're doing it for your family too?" Kallen continued. "Don't make me laugh! "

"I couldn't agree more, Queen," Arthur said. He snarled at Viletta. "You're only in it for yourself!"

"Blackmailing my grandfather is only the tip of the iceberg!" Milly said, pointing the stolen Treasure in her hand at Shadow Villetta accusingly, "Nothing excuses how you've treated Shirley, Suzaku, and the others! You're like a demon!"

Shadow Villetta laughed maniacally. "You have one thing right, foolish girl… in this world… I am a demon!"

Dark energy converged on Shadow Villetta, and she started growing to an enormous size, her shape twisting, though the darkness kept them from seeing the details of the transformation. At the same time, the throne room began rumbling, and parts of the floor began crumbling away, revealing a deep pool underneath. There was the sound of a large splash, and water came rushing over the sides of the pool as the darkness cleared.

"I am the Demon of Envy, Villetta Leviathan Nu!" the transformed Shadow Villetta declared, her voice and appearance far more terrible than they had ever been. The lower half of Villetta's body had mutated into that of a giant sea serpent. Her upper body was still mostly human in appearance, but covered in thick purple armor, like that of a Knightmare Frame. Her golden eyes glowed malevolently from above them, and her long, silvery hair had become a writhing mass of tentacles, grasping and crushing Cognitive members of the Swim Club. "I believe you have something that belongs to me, young lady!" A tentacle lashed out, grabbing the Treasure from Milly's hands and pulling it into Leviathan's own.

"She's huge!" Arthur cried. "But no matter how big she is, we need to beat her to take back the Treasure!"

"Submit to me!" Leviathan roared, swinging a massive hand through the water to send a raging wave crashing toward them.

"Get to higher ground!" Lelouch ordered. "She can't try to drown us up there!"

"You think it will be that easy?" Leviathan sneered. Her long hair-like tentacles began to attack independently, striking the ground around them with great force. Milly let out a cry as she stumbled on the wet floor, and Leviathan's tentacles moved in for the kill.

"Suzuka Gozen!" Kallen shouted. The red Persona dashed forward and deftly swung its blade, severing Leviathan's tentacles and causing them to fall to the ground harmlessly short of Milly.

"Thanks! I thought I was a goner there," Milly said as Kallen helped her to her feet.

"Don't mention it."

From the cover of the gallery, Lelouch took out his handgun, and began firing. Several bullets struck Leviathan, and Kallen and Milly joined him, firing their own salvos. But Leviathan was much too large and her scaly hide was too tough for the bullets to have much of an effect.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Leviathan taunted. Raising her scepter, a lightning bolt appeared out of nowhere, blasting the side of the gallery and sending chunks of masonry tumbling to the floor and leaving the thieves exposed. Using her tentacles, she flung one of the Cognitive Swim Club members as a high-speed projectile toward the gap, forcing the Black Knights to dive out of the way. The Cognition impacted with a sickening crunch before dissipating.

"She killed that girl without a second thought!" Milly gasped.

"It was a Cognition, technically speaking," Arthur said angrily, "but it just shows how little she values their lives."

Leviathan wasn't done. She raised her scepter again and destroyed the next section of the gallery before lobbing another Swim Club member at them.

"Any plans for getting out of this one, Zero?" Kallen asked hurriedly, as Leviathan blasted the gallery a third time, causing an entire section of it to crumble. "We can't get close without risking being drowned, and we're too far away here to do effective damage. We'll be out of places to run soon if she keeps casting that lightning."

"Lightning…" His eyes lit up. "That's it." He stood up, dramatically ripping off his mask as his trench coat billowed around him in a sudden wind. "Slime!"

The green blob appeared, casting its own smaller lightning spell, Zio, which it had inherited from Pixie, into the water at the edge of the pool.

Pure water does not actually conduct electricity by itself. It requires dissolved ions, each with their own net electric charge, to carry a current.

A pool is filled with plenty of ions from the chlorine used to disinfect the water.

The sudden current caused by Slime's Zio spell rapidly flowed across the surface of the pool in all directions, shocking Leviathan.

"Ugh!" Leviathan groaned, collapsing into the water with a large splash as her muscles spasmed involuntarily, while her tentacles fell similarly limp. The Cognitive Swim Club members cried out as well, shocked through contact with Leviathan. A few managed to to free themselves though as Leviathan's grip slackened.

"You can't do this!" Leviathan protested. "This is my Castle now!"

"You've had your way for long enough!" Lelouch retorted. "Everyone, commence an all-out attack!"

"Right!" Kallen, Milly, and Arthur called out in unison.

Rushing down the steps from the gallery, the Black Knights summoned their Personas. Suzuka Gozen and Master Cat glided over the pool with supernatural speed, cutting into Leviathan's relatively exposed lower body with their weapons. Medea took to the air, her cape spreading out like wings, bombarding Leviathan from above with fireballs. A moment later, Lelouch summoned his own Berith, following behind Suzuka Gozen and Master Cat.

Nearing Leviathan, Berith readied his lance to strike, but as he did so, Leviathan seemed to recover from her shock, and raised her tentacles once again. But instead of striking out at Berith directly, she whipped the tentacle holding the Cognitive Shirley Fenette into Berith's path, using the illusory girl as a human shield.

Lelouch felt his heart freeze at the sight of Shirley about to be pierced by Berith's lance. Even though he intellectually knew that she was a fake, he would never kill his fellow Student Council member, which caused him, and by extension Berith, to reflexively hesitate, the Persona's lance stopping inches from her chest.

Lelouch suddenly felt a phantom pain around his waist, threatening to constrict him, as Leviathan lashed out with another tentacle to capture Berith in a crushing grip.

"Fool!" Leviathan shouted with exultation. "Caring for others shall be your downfall!" She proceeded to squeeze even tighter. If it kept up for much longer, she was going to break his ribs, and then she would crush his lungs.

"Zero!" Kallen called out in alarm.

Doubling over in pain, Lelouch managed to pull of his mask again.

"Arsene!" he gasped.

Arsene was thinner than Berith, leaving Leviathan grasping air for a moment. Arsene seized the opportunity to rise out of harm's way, and a moment later Lelouch felt the soothing aura of Dia wrap around him instead, cast from Medea above.

"Thanks, Diamond!"

"Don't think I'm done disciplining you!" Leviathan shrieked, pulling her body upright once again. She seized the Cognitions who had escaped from her, and then another wave crashed toward the Black Knights, forcing them to retreat up the stairs to the landing just outside the Treasure Room.

"She just doesn't give up!" Arthur said in annoyance.

"You can stun her with lightning, Zero," Kallen said, "but the charge gets too dispersed to keep her down for long."

"She's going to start blasting us again with lightning from her Treasure too," Milly frowned, "and she'll keep using members of the Cognitive Swim Club to attack us."

"Then we'll need to take back that Treasure and turn it against her," Lelouch said. "Diamond, we'll distract Villetta. Use Medea to swoop down, grab the Treasure, and see if you can give her a taste of her own medicine with it."

"Got it!"

"Have you learned nothing?" Leviathan sneered as Lelouch, Arthur, and Kallen approached the edge of the pool, while Milly darted along the side of the gallery that hadn't been destroyed yet. A flurry of tentacles rained down toward the three Black Knights at the poolside.

"Slime!" Lelouch shouted, summoning the green blob once again. Besides inheriting Pixie and Bicorn's powers, Slime was highly resistant to physical attacks, and Leviathan's tentacles slowed as they encountered and got stuck in its viscous body. Kallen immediately sliced through the offending tentacles with Suzuka Gozen, causing them to burst into black wisps.

"Filthy Eleven!" Leviathan hissed.

"Why don't you take on someone your own size?" Arthur shouted back. "Garu!" A gust of wind conjured by Master Cat sent Leviathan's next barrage of tentacles off course, with some getting twisted around each other.

"You little freak! I should have made sure to finish you off when I had her brother killed!" Leviathan raised the scepter, preparing another strike. "Once I exterminate you, that leaves only the spoiled brat! I'll find her, no matter where she's run off to!"

"What's that about me?" Milly called out. Suddenly, Leviathan was struck in the side with a fireball. In the next moment Medea dived down, yanking the Treasure from Leviathan's hands.

"How?" Leviathan blanched.

"I'm taking the Treasure back. I hope you don't mind!" Milly said with a wink.

"Insolent girl!"

Leviathan's tentacles shot upward, trying to trap Medea against the ceiling, but then Suzuka Gozen was there.

"Time for a haircut!"

As Suzuka Gozen cut through a swath of tentacles, Cognitive Shirley fell from their clutches, and began swimming away from Leviathan as quickly as she could, pulling herself up out of the pool.

"Diamond, now!" Lelouch shouted.

"Let's finish this, Medea!" Milly called.

Medea raised the stolen Treasure high, and there was a rumbling in the air before a massive bolt of electricity discharged and struck Leviathan, who crumpled into the water once again, breathing raggedly.

Now that Leviathan could no longer cast lighting, Lelouch switched his Persona to Genbu. "Rakunda!" Purple energy closed around Leviathan, magically weakening her defenses.

"We have the advantage! Launch another all-out attack! Don't give her the chance to get up again!"

The other Black Knights didn't need to be told twice. Leviathan's scales were no longer quite as tough, and in a short time, they were able to inflict massive damage upon her.

"Impossible!" Leviathan gasped. The power she had absorbed could no longer be contained, and dispersed, leaving a battered Shadow Villetta, once again in her Baroness form, soaked in the pool.

"You can't do this…" she said weakly. "What will happen to me? If you take my Treasure from this place… I'll…"

"Still thinking about yourself?" Kallen snapped. "I know all too well what its like to be discriminated against. I watch my friends suffer through Britannian oppression every day, and my brother is dead because of you!"

"Then… kill me," Shadow Villetta said, her golden eyes downcast. "I've lost. The strong devour the weak. That's the Brittannian way, which I embraced. Have your revenge. There's no point in me going on any longer. The me in the real world will die too."

"What good would that do?" Milly asked. She turned to Kallen. "You know that it won't bring your brother back."

"Why would my brother be so interested in this Palace in the first place? What secrets are you hiding? I want answers!" Kallen demanded.

"Isn't it obvious?" Shadow Villetta replied. "He sacrificed himself for you. He knew that I'd never let you be if I discovered your heritage, and that it might lead back to your friends. He also might have thought that I knew something about the mental shutdowns, since I'm with Britannian intelligence."

"Do you?" Kallen pressed.

"That's beyond my own security clearance," Shadow Villetta admitted. "But I've been keeping tabs on the incidents all the same. While many terrorist leaders have been killed by mental shutdowns, most of the Britannians targeted were political opponents of Prince Clovis in some way or the other."

"Britannian corruption comes from the top," Lelouch scowled.

"It seems that way," Arthur agreed.

"So what are you waiting for?" Shadow Villetta asked, looking up at Kallen. "I've told you what you wanted. Now put me out of this misery."

Kallen ripped of her mask, and Suzuka Gozen grabbed Shadow Villetta in a clawed hand. For a moment, Lelouch was certain that Kallen was going to fry Shadow Villetta with radiation, and he shouted for her to stop. That would ruin everything! But Suzuka Gozen instead dragged Shadow Villeta to the edge of the pool and unceremoniously tossed her on the ground at their feet.

"No," Kallen said. "A part of me really wants to, but that would be much too quick for you!" Tears were flowing from her eyes now. "I'm not going to give you an easy way out!"

"Confess to your crimes," Lelouch said. "You may not be able to wash away your sins, but you can dedicate yourself to atoning for them. If you don't, you'll face the justice of the Black Knights once again."

"You win." Shadow Villetta sighed. "Without my Treasure, when I return to my other self, she'll confess." She shook her head. "But you if you really think your justice can really change the world, you're sorely mistaken." Shadow Villetta began fade into light. "You had better run, Black Knights. When I go, my castle will-"

Shadow Villetta disappeared.

"What did she mean?" Kallen asked. "Her castle will…"

Suddenly, the Palace began shaking violently. Dust fell from the ceiling as cracks began opening in it.

"What's happening?" Milly cried.

"By removing the Treasure, we've destabilized the structure of the entire Palace!" Arthur shouted. "We have to get out of here now!"

"Isn't that a bit cliche?" Milly asked.

They didn't have time to waste. Yet Lelouch found himself hesitating again. There was the Cognitive Shirley, still on the side of the pool. If the Castle collapsed, she would be…

"Don't worry about me, Lulu," she called out. "I'm going to disappear in a moment anyway. You've saved me. Now save yourself."

He nodded, though it hurt him to leave her there, so convincing was the Cognition in its final moments. "Everyone, this way!"

The shaking became only more intense as they descended through the castle, and large chunks of the ceiling began to fall around them. Even after they were outside of the castle proper, the danger wasn't over, as gaping pits began to open in the grounds. No sooner had they made it past the outer gate when it collapsed behind them, and the keep in the distance pitched over and fell into ruin as well.

"Time to return to the real world!" Arthur shouted.

"I can't agree more!" Kallen said.

Reality flickered into being around them, and with a last glance back Villetta's Palace, they watched as the fake Ashford Academy imploded, winking out of existence.

"Did we do it?" Milly asked, breathing heavily. They were all back in their Ashford uniforms, save for Arthur, who as a cat did not have one. "We're all still alive, right?"

"It seems so, Madam President," Lelouch replied. "All we can do now is wait for Coach Nu to confess."

"Milly… what's that you have there?" Kallen asked.

"Oh… this?" Milly looked down and found a ceremonial sword in her hands. "Huh? I thought I was carrying the Treasure. Wasn't it a scepter?"

"I'm pretty sure that is the Treasure," Arthur said. "Remember how the school was twisted into being a Castle? Then this the real world root of her distortion."

"Swords like that are given to the top-ranking cadets at elite Britannian military academies when they graduate to the rank of Knight," Lelouch explained. "Do you remember what Villetta's Shadow said about being passed over for a certain honor due to her heritage, despite deserving it by merit? She felt that this should have been hers, and was the tipping point where her desire to attain nobility became an obsession."

"We can't just openly carry something like this around school while the SSDF is still on patrol," Milly said. "They'd call it a 'dangerous weapon'."

"Or ask who we stole it from," Kallen added.

"Don't ask me to carry it," Arthur said. "I'm just a cat. A sword like that is much too big for me."

"The SSDF isn't all-seeing. We did a pretty good job putting those calling cards up this morning without being noticed," Lelouch chuckled. "They won't have any video evidence to use either, thanks to a convenient malfunction in the camera system."

"Being the Headmaster's favorite granddaughter has its privileges," Milly shrugged playfully.

"You mean his only granddaughter," Kallen said.

"You've got me there," Milly laughed lightly.

"Anyway, leave the arrangements of handling the Treasure to me," Lelouch said. "I doubt that it will hold its original power after Villetta's change of heart, but I know a place that will take it."

"Aw... it would have been pretty cool to keep, whether as a scepter or a sword," Milly said, handing the Treasure over. "But I guess you're right."

Kallen opened the Metaverse Navigator on her phone. "I can confirm the deletion of Villetta's Palace as a destination."

"Excellent," Lelouch grinned. "All that remains is for us to await Villetta's change of heart."

 _ **Days until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 7**_

 **A/N:**

 **So there was somewhat of a longer delay between this chapter and the last, but it is also the longest chapter so far. Originally, I had though that the fight with Shadow Villetta/Leviathan would happen in Chapter 11, but the first part of the chapter didn't seem long enough to be satisfactory on its own.**

 **The creepy antiques store is a reference to one of the new scenes in the Code Geass recap films, when Shirley is trying to follow Lelouch. For a time, I did consider elevating that shopkeeper to a full-fledged Confidant in a manner similar to Iwai, but I decided that it was better to stick with an established, actually developed character.**

 **In what may be a very minor retcon, I noticed that seven days have passed in story without any mention of a weekend. However, in some ways, Ashford Academy seems to draw upon more of the model of Japanese high schools, at least as they are portrayed in anime, with a powerful Student Council, expected participation in at least one club, and an emphasis on uniforms, to name a few, while being explicitly Britannian. Following that example, I am henceforth assuming in this story (as to my knowledge it is not stated otherwise is Code Geass) that Ashford follows a Monday through Saturday class schedule (as does Shujin Academy in P5), with no official classes but some clubs holding activities on Sunday, which would also be plausible as it is explicitly a boarding school in Code Geass. Working backward, that would place the start of this story on a Monday.**

 **The title of the chapter is a pun on the boss theme of Persona 5 "Blooming Villain". Leviathan is traditionally the demon that represents Envy.**

 **I slightly rewrote part of the battle scene to make better use of the Cognitive Swim Club members following one of the reviews.**

 **Thanks to the reader who gave me the idea for the particular form of Villetta's Treasure in a PM. I slightly tweaked the dialogue at the end there after a potential plot hole (why don't they just keep it?) was pointed out.**

 **My update time is likely to become significantly longer, on the order of regularly being a week at best and more likely a few weeks as I get off vacation here and start up my job again, so please be patient. I've had a lot of inspiration for this story, so I will be able to keep writing, but most of my time to do so will be on weekends.**

 **I am also still looking for a beta reader to help with proofreading, so if anyone is interested, just PM me.**


	11. Regret and Celebration

_THWUMP_

It was the sound of a teenage Britainnian student's body falling onto his mattress. Adrenaline gone, Palace escaped, Lelouch could only replay the events in his head scene by scene, starting with the battle against Villetta, or should he say her true form, Leviathan.

Death.

A chill traveled along his spine.

" _Leviathan nearly killed us._ "

If Kallen hadn't blocked the blows-

"Milly _would have died._ "

That was a certainty, at the very least. It seemed likely the rest of them would be dead too. Stealing Leviathan's Treasure back would have become far more difficult without Milly to summon Medea, and without that Leviathan would have overwhelmed them. There wouldn't have been another miraculous Persona awakening to save them, and _t_ he Black Knights would have been stains of blood forgotten inside an otherworldly castle.

But with his brains, Personas, and teammates, they had pulled through.

Teammates.

Never had Lelouch expected to rely on anyone else in such a way again.

Arthur's healing…Milly's fiery magic…. Kallen's seemingly limitless power…. All had been instrumental in the victory, like chess pieces, each with a role to play, bringing him closer to putting his enemy in checkmate.

If he didn't have Kallen then he couldn't have overpowered Villetta's army of Shadows.

If he didn't have Arthur then the group wouldn't have lasted through every encounter.

If he didn't have Milly, not only would they have been unable take back the Treasure, but placing the calling cards without getting caught would have been far more risky.

The assistance of the Velvet Room could not be forgotten either. Without Shi and Tsu, he couldn't have fused his Personas into more powerful forms. And loathe as he was to admit it, Igor's advice and gifts had consistently proved useful. Without the strange old man, he would have never received the Metaverse Navigator, and he would still be powerless, stuck in the life of an ordinary student.

The life or death battle had been over in a few minutes at most, but his legs were still shaking from the desperate run to escape the crumbling nightmare. As much as Arsene or his other Personas increased his endurance in the Metaverse, in the real world he was still almost as weak as he had always been, and exhaustion caught up to him. As much as he wanted to relish the Black Knights' victory, his body wouldn't give him any more time.

He had nearly collapsed as he walked past the dinner table, declining to eat dinner, to the skepticism of Sayoko, and limped into his room, not even bothering to take off his uniform. He was too tired to think of any excuses for Sayoko, though he knew that would make her suspicious. Sayoko would tell Nunnally, who would then beg his friends to know why her big brother was so tired.

But for now, he was too tired to think about it for any longer, and he closed his eyes, seduced by the darkness.

But before long, his vision was flooded with blue.

"It appears you have completed your first heist, Trickster," Igor told him. "You have graduated from petty thievery to becoming a thief of hearts." He chuckled. "How will you use this power, I wonder? Don't tell me that this only heart that you plan to steal."

"I have to make sure the change of heart process actually works on Villetta," Lelouch replied carefully. He no longer felt tired now that he was in the Velvet Room, and he was wary of Igor as always.

"Of course," Igor said. "But if all goes as you expect it to, will you steal hearts in order to reform society, or will you use your power to cast it into ruin? You once promised to destroy Britannia, did you not?"

Lelouch's eyes narrowed.

"I can see many things from my Velvet Room," Igor continued with amusement. "Do you know what this design for a prison is called? It is a panopticon. It comes from the words meaning 'all-seeing' in your world's ancient Greek language. How very fitting."

"I thought a panopticon was supposed to have a tower in the center, so the prisoners wouldn't know if they were being watched or not."

"The point remains, Trickster."

"In any case, it's not just a promise - I will destroy Britannia."

"Even though that may bring about ruin as surely as Ragnarok will?" Igor pressed.

"Britannia is rotten to the core. Only through destruction can it rise from the ashes, ready to be reformed into the kinder and gentler world I want to make for my sister. The idea of changing such a structure from the inside, designed from the start to enable a parasitic nobility, is absurd. If the method is proven to work on Villetta, I will proceed to target key individuals, and I'll force them to expose Britannia's corruption in such a way that the people can no longer ignore it. Britannia's citizens will waver, and the Japanese will be emboldened to rise up against their oppressors. A successful rebellion will cause a domino effect of unrest through the Empire, and overextended, Britannia will soon collapse on itself."

Igor's bloodshot eyes bored into Lelouch for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever. And then the old man began to chuckle, restrained but deep and resonant, somehow reaching into his soul and causing even his Personas to tremble.

"A lofty ambition, Trickster. I did not take you as one who put such faith in the indolent masses. How amusing. You are even more interesting than I thought. And so you have my continued blessing to pursue your rehabilitation with vigor. While you may lay low as you await your teacher's change of heart, remember that time is a fleeting thing. Days squandered will never return, making what time you have left ever more precious as the world continues toward Ragnarok."

The bell rang.

"We will talk again, Trickster. And if you wish to return, remember that Tsu will always be watching over the entrance to my Velvet Room for you in the real world."

Lelouch awoke, once more in his bedroom. It was a Monday morning, one week from the hearing at which Kallen and Suzaku would be expelled - unless stealing Villetta's heart had the desired effect.

The nasty rumors flying around the school hadn't stopped, but now they were mixed with rumors about the Black Knights. At first, most had thought that the calling cards were just a prank, but when Coach Nu didn't show up to gym class in the morning, the student body began to change its tune.

"The Black Knights were the ones who threatened Coach Nu the other day, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you think they…"

"Stole something from her heart? Don't be ridiculous. Whoever heard of such a thing?"

"You'd need magic or superpowers!" a girl piped up.

"Besides, didn't they say that Coach Nu would 'confess to her crimes' by the end of the day?" asked another student. "Well, yesterday already came and went, and that didn't happen!"

"I don't know…missing class isn't like Coach Nu… she didn't seem sick or anything… doesn't the timing seem odd?"

"What I'm sure of is whoever really put up all those calling cards is having a good laugh right now."

"Do you think they'll be caught?"

"Who knows?"

On its part, the SSDF seemed intent on making its presence known across the campus, trying to convince the student body that they were up to the task of providing security on campus after their embarrassing failure to catch those who had posted the calling cards. They were also determined to make themselves look tough and remind the student body about who held power at Ashford. Soon enough, everything would return to normal. At least, that was the prevailing attitude around the school.

Kallen didn't show any signs of nervousness to the student body, careful to avoid any outwardly incriminating behavior. But she had to be feeling at least some anxiety simply from not knowing if they had been truly successful. Milly couldn't fully hide her own restlessness, but others would attribute it to the stress of her position rather than an indication of suspicious activity on her part.

All they could do was wait for Villetta to confess.

Lelouch returned early to the Student Council Clubhouse that night, and found his sister in their living quarters' dining room. She was folding brightly colored pieces of paper, though of course, Nunnally could not appreciate the colors with her blindness.

"Big brother!" she asked happily. "Is that you?"

"It is. What's that you're working on, Nunnally?"

"Sayoko was showing me how to fold origami cranes."

"Do you want any help?"

"I'd love to fold cranes with you, big brother!"

Lelouch sat down and began folding cranes with Nunnally. Making a crane well required a good amount of proficiency, not to mention manual dexterity, but before long there were well over a dozen cranes between them on the table.

"Sayoko says that if you make 1,000 origami cranes, your wish will come true," Nunnally explained as they worked.

"Does it still count for you if I'm making some?" Lelouch asked.

"Making cranes for another will help their wish come true," Nunnally nodded.

"So what are you going to wish for?" he asked her.

"It's a secret," Nunnally said with a small smile. She paused. "But having you here with me is all I really need. Sayoko is good company, but it's not the same without you."

I'm sorry, Nunnally. I've had a project that I've been working on lately," Lelouch said, the words coming effortlessly to him. It wasn't even really a lie in the strictest sense. Infiltrating Viletta's Palace had been a project of a sort.

"A project with Kallen?" Nunnally asked.

"You're still on that rumor?" He chuckled. "Well, I suppose it's no longer entirely unfounded. We're not dating, but it is a project with Kallen. Milly and I are thinking that she'd be a good addition to the Student Council when the whole thing about her decking a member of the SSDF blows over. But that creep had it coming when he grabbed her like that."

"You're sure it's not anything that would get you in trouble?"

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. Was his sister really that perceptive? Did she know that he wasn't being entirely truthful with her?

"Of course not. That would make you cry, Nunnally, and that's the last thing I want."

"You promise?" She held out her pinky toward him. Seemingly sensing his confusion at the gesture, she explained, "It's something else Sayoko taught me, a pinky promise!"

"Alright," Lelouch said, extending his own pinky finger and hooking it around his sister's. "I'll never lie to you, Nunnally, and I'll help you make the rest of these cranes."

"Cross my heart, hope to die, eat a thousand needles if I lie, pinky promise song!" Nunnally sang, surprisingly cheerfully for such morbid imagery.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Star Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

The Star… Nunnally had been his guiding light, the one thing that had given him a reason to go on in the darkest moments of the invasion of Japan, and when he had faced death at the hands of Shadow Villetta's guards, she had been the person he had thought of. It was fitting for her.

"I'll make cranes for you too, Lelouch," Nunnally smiled innocently. "Maybe they'll help you get closer to that special someone…"

Had his little sister been talking to Milly again? He would have to have a word with his fellow Black Knight about putting strange ideas in Nunnally's head.

 **Days until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 6**

xXx

The week passed by, with the Black Knights doing their best to maintain a low profile as far as Villetta was concerned. As the boisterous Student Council President, Milly couldn't maintain too low of a profile, as that would look even more suspicious, but Arthur was beneath suspicion. Few knew of his existence in the first place, as his small size allowed him to remain well-hidden, and at most the students would think he was just an ordinary stray. A cat couldn't possibly be associated with the Black Knights.

Lelouch passed the time doing work for the Student Council, hanging out with Rivalz after school, and folding cranes with Nunnally at night. In turn, he felt the strength of the vows he had received from them starting to grow, which would soon translate into new power in the Velvet Room. He couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about how he was exploiting his bond with his sister, but the power he gained from it would help him achieve his dream of creating a kinder and gentler world for her… or so he told himself.

Villetta had continued to call in sick but had not yet made a confession. Lelouch felt anxiety starting to eat away at him. Had it really worked? Or would everything be for naught? They wouldn't have another chance to try to forcibly change Villetta's cognition, for her Palace no longer existed.

At the very least Villetta's absence meant there was less pressure on the Student Council to pass the SSDF vote. The motion was once again tabled without much fanfare, but the Black Knights on the Student Council could only wait for the moment of truth.

 **Days until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 0**

xXx

Early in the morning, before Suzaku's and Kallen's expulsion hearings were scheduled to begin, the headmaster convened a special school assembly. A few days before, a nobleman and his wife had been killed in a suspicious car crash in the Tokyo Settlement. While the third occupant of the car, the couple's daughter, had survived the crash with only minor injuries, that did little to calm the nerves of the Britannian public. All sorts of rumors had begun to circulate about the deaths. Some thought an act of sabotage by terrorists was somehow responsible for the crash. Others whispered that the couple had suffered from a mental shutdown shortly beforehand, causing them to lose control of the car. The result was that Settlement on edge once again, and Ruben Ashford found it necessary to reassure the student body that they were safe at Ashford Academy.

"By now, I am sure you have heard the news of the untimely deaths of Lord von Breisgau and his wife," the Headmaster began. "In trying times such as these, it is all too tempting to let our fears get the best of us and to surrender that which we cherish most in the name of security. But I urge you to never -"

Suddenly, the door to the gym unexpectedly slammed open, causing the headmaster to pause.

"Coach Nu! What are-" he started.

Villetta looked haggard. Her long hair was unkempt, no longer strictly organized in a ponytail but loose and free-flowing yet mussed, a bad case of bed hair. It seemed as if she hadn't slept well in days, and had lost some weight. Her eyes were downcast as she began to speak.

"I… I have been reborn," Villetta said after several moments, her words heavy with shame.

"I'm not the same person now that I once was," she continued. "But the pain left by my old self's crimes still lingers, and I couldn't bear the guilt for them on my own any longer. That is why I have decided that I must confess to all of them before you."

The assembled student body broke out into murmurs as Villetta crossed the gymnasium toward the podium, and even Ruben Ashford didn't seem to know quite what to make of her sudden change of heart.

"I wanted to have Suzaku Kururugi expelled from this school, just because he was an Eleven. To that end, I directed members of the SSDF to plant items in his room, framing him for theft. Likewise, I spread false rumors about him using performance-enhancing drugs, again through the SSDF. I helped organize the SSDF in the first place to curry favor with the Purist faction and as a way of forcing the school to bend to my whims."

"Wait… does that mean Suzaku is innocent?" students whispered.

"The SSDF did that?"

"We're supposed to trust people like that to keep us safe?"

"Though it was kept quiet, I was also going to have Kallen Stadtfeld expelled for the one time she decided to stand up to me and the SSDF," Villetta continued. "I then tried to goad her into giving me another chance to expel her."

Curiously, she did not mention Kallen's heritage even now. Perhaps Villetta was choosing to protect Kallen now that her heart had been changed?

"But that's not the worst of my crimes. I've blackmailed more people than I can count… and I physically abused the members of the Swim Club. I was so desperate to distinguish myself, that I subjected them to a training regimen that would be considered harsh even by military standards. I verbally abused them too, breaking them down and making them afraid to speak to anyone about the treatment they were suffering at my hands. Is Shirley Fenette here?"

Shirley nervously stepped forward, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing and expected Villetta to hurt her at any moment.

"Of all of the members of the Swim Club, I must apologize to you the most. You bore the brunt of my petty envy. You were young, carefree, and friendly to all, including Suzaku Kururugi… I hated that. I threatened you with losing your spot in the Swim Club to force you to come back to practice, which was no better than torture for you."

Villetta dropped to her knees. "I beg of you: please forgive me!"

"Do you think you can simply ask to be forgiven after what you've done?" Lelouch shouted, poison dripping from his words.

"No, Lulu, it's okay," Shirley reassured him. "What good would it do for me to stay angry at her? That anger would just fester and eat away at my heart. Nothing is unforgivable. It doesn't make what Coach Nu did right, but she's come clean now and admitted that what she did was wrong, before all of us. And so… I can forgive her, even after everything she put us through."

"You're too kind, Shirley," Lelouch murmured. Her idealism truly was a rarity in the world. Many in the so-called 'Holy' Britannian Empire might pay lip service to religion and its instruction to "turn the other cheek," but Shirley lived by the rule, even though it was at odds with the empire's ideology. Though come to think of it, besides his sister, there was one member of the royal family who he could never hate, and who shared Shirley's idealism… Euphemia…

"Thank you," Villetta sobbed, bringing Lelouch's attention back to the present. "I shall resign from Ashford Academy, effectively immediately. Then, I will kill myself."

The assembled student body gasped. "Coach Nu!" Ruben shouted in alarm.

Lelouch personally didn't care whether or not Villetta killed herself now that she had confessed, which would be enough to exonerate Suzaku and Kallen. She was of no further use to his plans. But nearby him, Kallen shifted in place, clearly displeased with the idea of Villetta trying to take an easy way out even now. However, she had to force herself not to confront the former coach about it front of everyone, as the Kallen Stadtfeld the student body knew was a quiet girl. Milly also seemed dismayed. She hadn't wanted to risk killing Villetta, and if Villetta committed suicide now, Milly would certainly feel that blood was on her hands.

"You can't do that!" a male voice suddenly shouted out.

Villetta looked up. "Suzaku Kururugi…."

"You have to turn yourself in," Suzaku told her. "Killing yourself accomplishes nothing. We all have to live according to the rules of the system, and trust that justice will be done."

Annoyance crossed Lelouch's face, and for once, Villetta seemed to share his opinion. "You speak of justice and the system, but I was going to use that very same system to have you expelled under false pretenses," Villetta laughed weakly. She sighed. "But have it your way. I'm tired of it all, and either way, my career is finished." She turned to look up at the headmaster. "Call to have me arrested and escorted from here, lest I do further harm to the students or myself."

Needless to say, the school assembly was canceled, and no one could focus on their classes after that. The students couldn't stop talking about the Black Knights and Villetta's change of heart.

"Everything they said was true!"

"I can't believe it… that calling card was real?"

"They really changed Coach Nu's heart!"

"The SSDF's finished, if you ask me."

"I knew Kallen wasn't the violent type."

"So Suzaku was innocent?"

"He's still an Eleven though…"

Lelouch grimaced. Of course, one could not expect that the student body as a whole would let go of its prejudice overnight. But at least it appeared that, with the SSDF being discredited in front of the whole school, racist efforts to harass Suzaku would become far less organized, and the Student Council would be more able to rein in offenders.

Seeing Suzaku, Lelouch approached him. "So did they cancel the hearing after Coach Nu's confession and resignation?"

"They did," Suzaku replied. "But I can't say that I'm happy about it."

"Why not? You heard it from Coach Nu herself; it was going to be rigged against you from the start."

"Do you remember those calling cards that were placed around campus a few days ago?" Suzaku asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Of course," Lelouch said smoothly. "Who could miss them? They were plastered everywhere. Getting them all cleaned up was a pain."

"These 'Black Knights' claimed they would 'steal her twisted desires from her heart' and force her to 'confess her crimes with her own mouth,' didn't they? I don't know how someone would go about stealing from another's heart, but you saw the results of their work!"

"Yes, Coach Nu became a better person who sought to atone for all the pain she had caused."

"Not by her own choice! From where I'm standing it looks like they somehow brainwashed her! And that's not to mention that they were basically blackmailing her!"

"You're really that concerned about someone who would have had you expelled for her own gain?" Lelouch asked incredulously. "And let's not forget how she tried to expel Kallen too and was abusing the swim club. However they did it, I'm glad the Black Knights put an end to Coach Nu's reign of terror here at Ashford."

"The ends don't justify the means, Lelouch! Thinking that they can just go around and force people to change who they are… it's the height of arrogance!"

"Hey! Lelouch! Suzaku!" Milly called, at once interrupting the exchange and defusing the tension between them. "We need both of you over at the clubhouse right away!"

"What's this about?" they asked, nearly in unison, causing Milly to giggle.

"I think Lelouch has a pretty good idea already," Milly said. "But you'll find out soon enough, Suzaku!"

"You're going to ask me to join the Student Council again?" Suzaku sighed. "We've been over this before. The student body won't - "

"Nope! I'm not asking you to join, Suzaku," Milly said cheerfully.

"She's telling you that she's making you join, whether you like it or not," Lelouch whispered.

"Hey! Don't spoil it!" Milly pouted. "Guts!" There was her magic 'spell' again.

"It will be good for you, Suzaku," Lelouch said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"You need to belong to some sort of club. Having you work alongside us will go a long way toward showing the rest of the student body that they can trust you. Besides, it's not like you'll be the only one joining the Student Council today," Milly added. "You won't have the SSDF harassing you about it either. They're as good as done after this morning's assembly."

"If you're sure," Suzaku nodded.

"There's no point in resisting," Milly teased. "It'll be fine! Now come on!"

When they arrived in the foyer of the clubhouse, boxes from Pizza Hut were stacked on a table, and Shirley was helping put up a banner that said, "Welcome Kallen, Suzaku, and Arthur!".

Nunnally was there too, and Arthur was stretched out lazily on some cushions. Nearby the cat, Lelouch spied some boxes with brightly colored fabrics within. He shuddered. Were those fabrics what he thought they were?

"It's not much," Milly said, "But it's what I could come up with on short notice."

Lelouch eyed her warily. His suspicions had been correct. Maybe the pizza was on short notice, but those cat costumes in the boxes certainly weren't! Milly had clearly been busy preparing for this party over the last week. Wait… would she be cosplaying as her own thief alter-ego? Would she really be so reckless? Granted, nobody else would realize its significance, but still…

"You're not going to make us wear those, are you Madam President?" Lelouch cautiously asked.

"But of course I am," Milly said with a mischievous smile.

"I refuse."

"Don't be like that. Otherwise, we'll have to tie you down to a chair until you cooperate."

He knew she wasn't joking.

"You really want to go all out on this, don't you?"

"It's been much too long since we were able to let loose with a party around here," she agreed. "We need to show everyone that the dark days are behind us here at Ashford Academy!"

Kallen was brought to the party by Nina at Milly's instructions. Nina seemed at ease around Kallen, perhaps seeing her as a fellow introvert and one of the top students in their class. Lelouch doubted that Nina would be so calm if she knew that Kallen was half Japanese. Tellingly, Nina froze up a bit when she saw Suzaku already at the party. She was still prejudiced against 'Elevens', observing her further, she seemed to relax slightly when Milly teased Suzaku. It seemed that she was willing to give him a chance, but was it because of Milly or the SSDF being exposed? Probably both.

"Is that Kallen?" Nunnally asked.

"Indeed, we finally have all of our guests of honor assembled!" Milly announced energetically. "We have gathered here today to welcome Kallen Stadtfeld and Suzaku Kururugi to our Student Council! And let's not forget Arthur! Kallen was taking care of him before, but now he will live here and be our new mascot! After we enjoy some pizza, I've got some purr-fect costumes for you so that we can properly welcome Arthur to his new home!"

"Did you remember to get sardines on the pizza? Arthur asked excitedly. "You can put them right here!"

"He certainly seems happy!" Shirley said, a genuine smile breaking on her face for the first time in far too long. "Listen to him meowing like that!"

That was a good sign. The sort of abuse Shirley and the other members of the Swim Club had suffered typically left not only bruises but mental scars that would last long after the actual abuse ended. That Shirley had been singled out during Villetta's confession as a particular target of the former coach's mistreatment meant that plenty of students would surely be badgering Shirley in the coming days to hear her story, whether or not she wanted to relive such painful memories. But Shirley's smile gave Lelouch hope that his friend would make a good recovery.

Suzaku looked at Shirley for a moment before realizing who she was talking about. "Oh, right!" He knelt down and began petting Arthur on his head. "Where did you find him, Kallen?" He asked. "He - Ow!" Suzaku winced as Arthur promptly bit his hand. "What was that for?"

"Wrong place! I've got an itch further down!" Arthur replied.

"You don't like that?" Suzaku wondered. Cautiously, he approached Arthur again and began rubbing that cat's back.

"That's better!" Arthur said contentedly. "You may be self-righteous, but you pet pretty well. He yawned, and then bit Suzaku's other hand without warning.

"Arthur!" Milly scolded.

"I can't help it!" Arthur protested. "Something about his hands…. It's like catnip!"

"I'm sorry…" Kallen said, affecting a meek voice. "I've never seen him bite anyone before. He's usually quite friendly."

The Student Council began helping itself to slices of pizza, chatting amongst themselves. Lelouch took the opportunity to introduce Kallen to Nunnally, as he had promised.

"I've heard a lot about you, but its good to properly meet you, Kallen," Nunnally said.

"Likewise," Kallen replied with a faint smile.

"I hope you don't mind me asking," Nunnally said sweetly, "but are you really dating my big brother? Lelouch denies it, and he promised not to lie to me, but…"

"That's just a rumor," Kallen said, frowning slightly.

"Thank you, Kallen," Nunnally said. "I hope that you'll excuse me for asking such a question. I'm sure you must be sick of it by now. I just needed to hear it from you. Well, there's still time…"

"Wh-what's that mean?" Shirley asked nervously, overhearing the conversation.

"I'm wondering which of you will one day be my sister-in-law." Nunnally looked thoughtful for a moment. "Though maybe it will be both of you. I don't mind, as long as I still get to spend some time with my brother."

It took Kallen and Shirley a moment to process what Nunnally had actually said.

"What?" they said together.

Lelouch groaned. What other ideas had Milly put in his little sister's head? He wasn't his father, who was well-known not only as the Emperor and for his rabid support of social Darwinism, but for having taken 108 consorts throughout his reign, siring with them a veritable army of children. As Charles xi Britannia had made all too clear when they were exiled over seven years ago, he had little real affection for any of his children, only concerned with how they could be of use to him.

"By the way, I heard what you said to Coach Nu this morning," Nunnally told Shirley quietly in a way that indicated her approval.

"It-it was nothing," Shirley said nervously. "Really… but I don't want to talk about it. Can't we just leave it behind us, and enjoy the party?"

"Of course, Shirley," Milly said, placing a hand reassuringly on Shirley's shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it until you want to. We'll make sure the other students know not to harass you or the other Swim Club members either."

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," Nunnally said, frowning.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Nunna," Shirley said. "You meant well. It's just… too soon."

"Um… where's Rivalz?" Nina murmured, noticing that they were short a Student Council member. She too seemed troubled by the mention of Coach Nu, no doubt reflecting her disillusionment over the SSDF, but wisely chose not to speak further on it to avoid upsetting Shirley.

"Sorry, I'm late!" Rivalz shouted as he entered the clubhouse, almost on cue. "But check this out!" He held up a bottle. "Since it's the first real party Madame President's thrown in a while, I managed to get us some champagne!"

"Rivalz!" Shirley said sharply. "We can't have that! We're minors!"

"Ah, loosen up, Shirley! Don't we all deserve to have some fun after everything that's happened?"

"We'll get in trouble if we're caught with that!" Shirley said, grabbing the bottle and trying to wrench it away from Rivalz.

The two tugged back and forth on the bottle for several moments, before Rivalz, getting it free from Shirley for a moment, held it up and yelled, "Lelouch, catch!"

Rivalz lobbed the bottle over toward him, and Lelouch managed to catch it before the wine smashed on the floor. However, the champagne had become too agitated, building up enough pressure so that the cork popped out of the bottle, and though Kallen was able to swat the cork away from her with her quick reflexes, she couldn't avoid being sprayed with a stream of champagne.

Milly's plan to have them dress up in cat costumes was put on hold, much to her disappointment, as they worked on cleaning up the mess. Kallen left the party to clean herself up in the shower. But it seemed that Milly was even now plotting something, the glint of mischief in her eyes.

"Lelouch, would you be a gentleman and bring Kallen some dry clothes?" she asked.

"Why me?" he asked. "Shouldn't it be another girl?"

"But we'd have to go all the way back to the girls' dormitories to get something that would fit Kallen, and that's on the other side of campus," Milly said with a wicked grin. "Your clothes might be a bit big for Kallen, Lelouch, but at least she'd probably be able to wear them. You don't want poor Kallen to be without something to wear, shivering in the cold with her constitution, do you?"

Lelouch's eyes narrowed. Milly knew perfectly well that Kallen, as their fellow Black Knight, was far more fit than she pretended to be.

"This is so you can get blackmail material on me so that you can force me to go along with your crazier ideas, isn't it?" he asked.

"Maaaaaaaaaybe," Milly said with faux innocence. "But you will help out another member of the Student Council, won't you?"

"...Fine, though if you think I'm going to do anything funny with Kallen, you're sorely mistaken."

Lelouch retrieved a set of his clothes and carried them to the bathroom where Kallen was showering.

He knocked twice "It's me, Lelouch. I've brought fresh clothes."

"You can leave them on the counter," Kallen responded.

Entering, Lelouch could see the silhouette of her naked from behind the shower curtain. He felt his cheeks growing uncomfortably warm, and so he averted his gaze. Plopping the clothes down, he was turned to leave-

"Wait."

"What is it?"

"What do you plan to do now, Lelouch? We still have a deal, remember?"

"Do you still not trust me, Kallen?" Lelouch wouldn't admit it, but he felt hurt by Kallen's distrust. Did their battle against Leviathan mean nothing? "I thought we were done with our conflicts."

"You certainly weren't lying about your sister. But the whole thing of…you know…being a former Britannian prince-" She spat the words "-still isn't something I can just accept. You have reason to rebel against your father. But what if-"

"The other members of the royal family?" He let out a short, harsh laugh. Of course, Kallen was suspecting he had other back up plans if the Black Knights failed. "I can count on one hand the number of siblings I feel even the least affection for. I won't hesitate to dive into their Palace. Nunnally is the only family that I need."

"What about Milly?" Kallen asked.

So she was trying to divert the argument? He could handle this and retort tenfold.

"She helped us because she had a stake in stopping Coach Nu. But can we really trust her going forward? Does she have any real interest in rebelling against Britannia itself? I mean, it looks like all she cares about it having fun and Nu was just a bump on the road. We're eating pizza and having 'fun' in this, frivolous party while thousands of Japanese are in the ghettos and being killed and-AGH!"

She slammed a fist against the bathroom stall. "This is something I hate about Britannians!"

"Even though you're a Britannian yourself," Lelouch mused.

"Why YOU!"

Kallen lunged forward, throwing the shower curtain to the side. She reached for her pink pouch, but she slipped on the wet floor of the stall.

Out of reflex, Lelouch reached for Kallen-

"Got-ugh!"

Lelouch was able to successfully prevent a worse accident, cushioning her fall. However, it left a wet and naked Kallen on top of him.

Her bare breasts, somehow seeming even larger now that they were no longer constrained by her uniform or thief outfit, pressed against his chest. Her quivering lips were just centimeters away from his, close enough to kiss. Involuntarily, Lelouch felt a sudden stiffness in his crotch, which happened to be just under Kallen's now.

In that moment, he couldn't come up with any plan that would let him gracefully escape from this predicament. Looking up into her blue eyes and their inner fire, he couldn't help but find them beautiful.

"P-pervert!" Kallen stammered.

Scrambling back to her feet, she promptly covered her breasts with an arm before pulling the shower curtain closed behind her.

"Is that how you thank me for catching you?" he asked, doing his best to seem unperturbed. Glancing at himself in the mirror, he was glad she couldn't see just how red his cheeks were.

"I wouldn't have been in that position if you hadn't provoked me!"

"Maybe I shouldn't have phrased it that way, but I was going to say you should give the others on the Student Council a chance. Milly can get a little wild at times, but her heart is in the right place. Shirley is one of the friendliest girls you could meet. Rivalz is pretty reliable. Suzaku… he can be annoyingly hardheaded at times, but he's loyal to his friends."

"Does that mean Britannia now?" Kallen huffed.

"And Nina… prejudiced opinions aside, she's brilliant when it comes to science and she's unwittingly become the supplier of devices we can use to aid our infiltration of the Metaverse."

"How did you manage that?"

"It's a secret."

"Fine! But not a word of what happened here to anyone! If-"

"If I talk, you'll kill me. Isn't that the same deal we already had?"

"You really get on my nerves sometimes, Lelouch, you know that?"

"I can see that. But it would be a shame to let a squabble like this stand in the way of our shared goal, Queen," he whispered.

"What, you think you're Zero now?"

"I'm always Zero, under the mask I wear here. My whole life as Lelouch Lamperouge is a lie, but as Zero I can speak the truth. I didn't name you Queen lightly, Kallen. I hold your abilities in the highest esteem, and I know I won't be able to do this without you."

"Lelouch… Zero… I- " Kallen started, trying to find the right words. Seeing his chance, Lelouch made a tactical withdrawal from the bathroom, before he could give his fellow rebel another chance to get angry at him.

He almost immediately came face to face with Milly Ashford, who only needed a moment to glance down and see that the front side of his uniform was wet. A devilish grin spread on her face.

"Did something fun happen in there?" She teased.

"No. You're imagining things."

"You're not as good at lying as you think you are, Lelouch."

"Nothing happened."

You're no fun, Lelouch." She pouted. "But don't worry, I'll get it out of Kallen eventually. I'll just have to schedule a girl's night in the school baths."

"You wish."

As much as he wouldn't admit it out loud, it was good to see Ashford Academy starting to get back to its old self, zany hijinks and all. It was proof of their victory. The first objective had been cleared, and at the end of the day, Lelouch couldn't help but feel a little closer to his confidants.

He would need their strength for the trials ahead.

 **A/N:**

 **Thank you for your patience, everyone! It's been five weeks, and work kept me busier than I would have liked, but the next chapter is finally here! Thanks goes to my beta reader, who helped me expand certain parts of the chapter that needed more detail.**

 **The next chapter is one of the Interludes, so that will be much shorter and hopefully won't take me a whole month to get out. But for other full-length chapters, I would assume that it will be at least a month between them, at least until the next time I have a vacation. Still, I may pleasantly surprise myself. Thank you for your continued support and interest in the story, and my apologies to those still waiting for updates on other stories. I'll try to squeeze that in too when I can. Unfortunately, my job does take the majority of my time, and I do have to prioritize real life before I can write.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed what we have here. I suppose the Kallen fan service scene is pretty much obligatory for capturing the feel of the original Code Geass, but hopefully it served its other purpose of some development of Kallen's character and advancing her Confidant rank. This story will not feature explicit lemons (as those are not allowed on this site anyways, and nor do those appear in Persona or Code Geass), but stuff may be teased, and there will be the occasional ecchi scene. I am not going to promise any particular pairings at this point, though I do have some ideas for how things will go.**

 **Astute readers may also notice some foreshadowing in the chapter as to further differences between this universe and the canon Code Geass Universe. I'd also like to note that from this point forward, the Palaces will start to diverge from their Persona 5 counterparts. There will still be the familiar theme of the Deadly Sins, and we're still following the overall arc of Persona 5's plot, but do not expect an Art Museum for the second Palace... something different is planned.**

 **The first half of this chapter's name is based on the track "Regret" from the Persona 5 OST, played whenever a Palace ruler has a change of heart and makes their confession.**


	12. Interlude - Interrogation, Part 3

Lelouch finished recounting the story of how he had stolen Villetta's heart to Cornelia. Of course, he didn't tell her everything. He wouldn't betray his fellow Black Knights.

But while the appearance of the blue butterfly had granted him a momentary reprieve from the aftereffects of the Refrain that had been injected into his veins, he suddenly felt his blood turn to ice as the drug reared its ugly head once more. Where there had been clarity, there was now only confusion. His brain could process many ideas simultaneously, but now that talent worked against him, as dozens of disjointed memories, mixed with delirious hallucinations, all crashed down upon him.

In that moment, he couldn't tell what the truth was anymore.

Was there any truth, or was it all lies?

Who was he?

It was like drowning, but infinitely more seductive, just to let himself become lost in Refrain's delusions.

He felt his head sinking down into his hands, his eyes growing heavy.

SLAM!

"We're not done here, Zero!" Cornelia shouted, striking the table with her fist without warning, and at least partially startling him out of his stupor. "Don't think you get to doze off after telling me such a story! Stealing someone's desires, in the form of a 'Treasure'? Is such a thing truly possible? Or is it just a fevered dream brought on by the Refrain? Keep talking, Zero! You managed to stay coherent longer than I expected, but you should be getting more lucid, not less! If you can't, your story is useless to me!"

Lelouch had enough wherewithal left to realize the peril he was in. But where could he find the strength to pull himself together again? He wasn't so naive to think he would receive the butterfly's aid a second time. But… what had it said?

Remember….

Remember what?

 _"Remember our contract and the bonds you forged…"_

That was it!

As much as Lelouch hated to admit it to himself, he was weak on his own, especially in his current state. But even in this darkest of moments, locked in a cell deep below the government bureau, drugged, and with his estranged and wrathful half sister as his interrogator, he could still faintly feel the power of his bonds and the masks they had given rise to: Fool, Magician, Chariot, Hermit, Fortune, Death, Temperance, and the Star. There were more of course, which he still struggled to recall, but the bonds of his oldest confidants were particularly strong, and with their strength he seized back a measure of clarity, enough to keep telling his story to Cornelia.

She was his final confidant, and perhaps the most important, Judgement. Whether he lived or died depended on if he could deepen that bond and her trust in him.

"I thought we already established that there would be no point in telling you such a ridiculous story unless it was the truth," he replied, slowly raising his head to meet Cornelia's gaze once again.

"That you did," Cornelia nodded, pleased that he was talking once more. "But there is something else that is bothering me about your account. After Nu's confession, the Black Knights began targeting a number of petty criminals, and even those who were just bullies around Ashford Academy. Those changes of heart were your doing as well, were they not?"

"That's correct."

"Isn't that a contradiction in your story?", she pressed, leaning forward. "You expect me to believe that all of those people were twisted enough to have a Palace just like Nu did? Given the method you described to me, it should have taken you months to change all of those hearts, but you did it in the span of mere weeks."

Lelouch thought for a moment, drawing upon his bonds once more to guide him through the drug-induced hazed.

"Mementos," he murmured.

"Excuse me?" asked Cornelia sharply.

"Within the Metaverse is a place called Mementos. It is the Palace for the masses. Everyone has their own sins, but most don't cause the extreme distortions necessary to give rise to a personal Palace."

"I should have known that you would have an explanation ready. But we'll see how well it holds up to scrutiny."

Cornelia shuffled her files, replacing Nu and a copy of the first calling card with a new set pictures. The first was of a prideful man in a military uniform, with neatly combed teal hair.

"Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald,"she stated matter-of-factly.

The name triggered a cascade of memories, no doubt a lingering effect of the Refrain, though now there was some order to them. Jeremiah had been the leader of the Purists, a colleague of Villetta's. But he had met Jeremiah long before that… back in the carefree days at the Aries Villa. Jeremiah had always been kind to him there, something he had never appreciated enough at the time. He had forgotten about Jeremiah after the exile to Japan, and failed at first to make the connection between the Margrave and his mother's devoted servant.

"In the span of the next two weeks, he was your highest-profile target," Cornelia continued, her voice pulling him back to the present. "Now tell me, Zero," she said, her gaze predatory, as if waiting to pounce upon the smallest contradiction in his story. "Did Jeremiah have his own Palace, or did you target him in this 'Mementos'?"

"Mementos." Jeremiah's heart had been distorted yes, and if unchecked it might have spawned his own Palace, but the Black Knights had stolen his heart before that could happen.

"Afterwards, Margrave turned traitor and began supplying information to the Black Knights. Is that correct?"

"…"

"You're not helping yourself by remaining silent, Zero."

"Our intelligence has found plenty of evidence to identify your accomplices. For example…"

Cornelia retracted the files on Jeremiah and placed another set of photographs on the table.

He knew that woman well, but he kept his face impassive, lest his expression betray his confidant. He recalled her greeting him as he moved into the Clubhouse at Ashford, and how he had been anxious about letting anyone else care for Nunnally, but the woman had earned his trust with her unceasing diligence and loyalty. Yet she had held secrets of her own, which he had scarcely fathomed until…

"Sayoko Shinozaki," Cornelia continued, interrupting that chain of thought. "A maid employed by the Ashford family… and the 37th successor of the Shinozaki School, trained as a spy and an assassin for the Elevens' former intelligence agency."

Damn! So Cornelia already knew that much? He had underestimated her and Britannia.

"Why would such a person be working for the Ashford family, and be assigned to you, no less? Her expertise would be undoubtedly helpful to your Black Knights."

He didn't answer.

Sensing that it would be fruitless to dig further, Cornelia took out the next picture, that of a man with a squarish jawline and blue eyes. The man had the look of a scoundrel written all over him. He wore a red turtleneck under a blue suit, but his most obvious feature was his sandy hair, tied into a ponytail and with a prominent bang covering part of his face.

"Diethard Reid."

The flashbacks were getting shorter as he continued to shake off the Refrain. He briefly saw himself shaking Diethard's hand as they sealed the deal between them, but in another moment he was back in the interrogation room.

"A graduate of Britannia Central University's Faculty of Law, he became a producer and press staff member for Hi-TV here in Area 11. Despite showing few signs of radicalism previously, he was nonetheless disaffected and used his position to increase the media coverage of the Black Knights' activities. He is also suspected of managing the KnightWatch, a seditious 'fan site' for the Black Knights."

Yes… KnightWatch… that was right… how could he have forgotten it? Diethard might not have been the founder of the site, but when he became one of its administrators….

"And last but not least…" the Viceroy reached deep into her files, pulling out a large photograph and placing it front and center, signaling that it was more important than those that had come before.

"Leila Breisgau."

The photograph showed a young woman, about his own age, who carried an air of nobility. She was undeniably beautiful, with delicate features, and a voluminous cascade of blonde hair, far lighter than Milly's gold, bangs and twin locks of it framing her face. On top, her hair was styled into an elegant pair of egg-shaped buns, one on each side, but even more striking were her large, amethyst eyes.

It was a color that was often associated with the upper echelons of Britannian society, with the Emperor, Prime Minister Schneizel, several princesses, including Cornelia and her sister Euphemia, and the late Empress Marianne and her children all having eyes in varying shades of violet. Though of course, it had to be remembered that Marianne had been a commoner before marrying the Emperor, so it wasn't unheard of for a commoner to display the trait.

Leila was no commoner though, and at a glance, one could have easily mistaken her for a princess of the empire. Yet her expression lacked the arrogance or cruelty that was all too typical of nobles, and rather than being vacuous, her eyes were filled with intelligence.

"The daughter of the late Bradow von Breisgau and his wife, Claudia, who Intelligence suspected of being sympathizers to the E.U. and the Elevens, if not outright spies for them," Cornelia continued disdainfully. "They died in a car accident-"

"It was murder," Lelouch interrupted. "Lord and Lady von Breisgau were as good as dead before their car ever crashed. They were killed by mental shutdowns."

Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "That was certainly a rumor at the time. But how would you know for sure...unless you were the one who killed them?"

He grit his teeth. Most of their targets who were corrupt enough couldn't be called human, and he would feel no remorse over killing them. But the Black Knights would not commit murder. His friends would never allow him to. That was a rule they had agreed to.

"The Black Knights fight for justice," he replied defiantly. Well, some of them did. Proclaiming that he truly sought justice was a lie he had told time and again, but revenge was his justice, and he had promised Arsene that he would commit any sacrilegious acts in pursuit of it.

"You really have the gall to say that?" Cornelia shouted with a sudden fury, her voice like a thunderclap. "After you-"

"The Black Knights were not the only ones operating in the Metaverse, Viceroy." The mental shutdowns had been happening before he ever obtained his Persona. "The true killer is still out there."

"Who is the killer then?" Cornelia asked dangerously.

Lelouch wracked his brain, but he couldn't recall who the killer was at the moment. The Black Knights had been pursuing them, that he was sure of. Perhaps the answer would come to him as he recalled more of his bonds. But Cornelia clearly wasn't happy with his reticence.

"So you're just trying to pin the blame for your crime on someone else?"

"Think about it, Cornelia!" he shouted, losing patience with her. "If the victim dies from a mental shutdown, they can't confess their crimes! I needed the targets to live so their confessions could undermine the public's faith in Britannia!"

"I told you to call me 'Viceroy', Zero," Cornelia snarled. "Don't think you have any right to act as my brother after what you've done!"

Stupid! His half sister's wrath was clouding her judgment.

"It doesn't matter, aren't you wondering who would silence the victims if not the Black Knights?"

"Silence?" Cornelia asked

"Didn't you think it was suspicious? Can't you see there's something that someone is trying to hide?"

For a moment, Cornelia looked as if she wanted to strangle him. But her curiosity won out.

"You forget your place. But if there is another party behind the mental shutdowns, I must know of them, so that I can end their threat to the empire once and for all. Very well, Zero. Tell me what you know of this group… and of your next major target after Margrave Gottwald…"

"Our brother, Clovis."

 **A/N:**

 **This update took considerably longer than I hoped for, for a variety of reasons. But at last, we have the interlude.**

 **As was foreshadowed in the previous chapter, Leila makes her formal debut in the story. Known as Leila Malcal in Akito the Exiled, she's Leila Breisgau here, as her parents never (openly) defected to the E.U. in this story, instead remaining in Britannia as spies, and thus she wasn't adopted by the Malcal family. Consequently, this modified backstory also makes her nobility (though her adoptive family in Akito the Exiled was undoubtedly aristocratic, the E.U. doesn't officially have nobility).**

 **Leila's inclusion in the story was predicated upon a number of factors. I was trying to round out the list of confidants with characters from the cast of the original anime series, but there was one Arcana that I was having trouble finding a suitable Confidant for. Either the candidates had already been assigned to another Arcana, or they didn't have the right personality for the Arcana. Then I thought of Leila. She had a personality that matched the Arcana to a T (not going to say which one it is yet, though you're welcome to post your guesses in the reviews), and presented an opportunity for an interesting confidant. Moreover, she had an obvious Persona and a thief outfit that seemed too good to pass up. Likewise, with the alteration of her backstory, I could tie the deaths of her parents into the Conspiracy.**

 **Though I do not want the Akito cast to overshadow the main cast, it is possible that some of them may yet appear as side characters in Leila's Confidant.**

 **It will probably be a few weeks minimum before I can have the next chapter fully written and revised, but when it's up expect a trip into Mementos, and everyone's favorite Orange.**

 **Also, to answer a question from a previous review, Kallen's thief costume for the most part looks like her pilot suit in canon. The lotus petals on her mask point outward, approximating the shape of a lotus, and cover most of her face.**


	13. Into Mementos

"There's something that I want to show you guys," Arthur said to the other Black Knights the day after the party.

"What is it?" Milly asked.

"You remember how I said that I was working with Kallen's brother for a time, before he died?"

"Yes," Lelouch nodded.

"That's all true… but the two of us had only recently discovered Nu's Palace. Most of our time exploring the Metaverse was spent in another Palace… though it's a very different type of Palace than the one we just erased."

"My brother didn't mention such a Palace when he showed me the Metaverse," Kallen said, giving Arthur a curious look.

"He didn't want you getting distracted when there was already a Palace here," Arthur explained. "Granted, we didn't know at the time exactly what we would find in your teacher's Palace, but it was clearly nothing good."

"Whose Palace is it?" Milly asked.

"I could just tell you, but you'll understand it better if I show you."

"Where is it?" Lelouch asked, seeking a clue as to the identity of the Palace ruler.

"We used to access it through the ruined subways under the Shinjuku Ghetto. But I think any train station will be fine."

"A transportation official's Palace?" Milly guessed.

"But if it doesn't matter which station we access this Palace from, then that means the distortion would have to cover the whole city!" Lelouch objected. "Who would see all of Tokyo as their Palace but the Viceroy?"

"Those are both good guesses," Arthur replied. "But no. The Viceroy does have a Palace of his own, judging from the of the reaction of the MetNav to his name. But we could never figure out the keyword describing the form of his Palace, and so we couldn't actually enter it."

Kallen clenched a fist. "Of course the Viceroy has a Palace," she snarled. You'd have to be pretty twisted to be so two-faced… All smiles to the Britannian public, even as he demolishes one Japanese neighborhood after another in the name of 'urban renewal. And he dares ask us to cooperate with his rule?"

"I see…" Milly murmured, her eyes downcast. "Of course that doesn't get reported in the media. But I can't exactly claim ignorance either… I know from Lelouch a bit about the atrocities that happened during the war. More than that, anyone can see how badly deteriorated the ghettos are while riding the trains around the perimeter of the settlement, and how new construction projects keep replacing them. But it's something I turned my eyes from and pretended not to see.

"That's all well and good to realize," Arthur interrupted, "But as Zero pointed out, the scale of this Palace is utterly massive. It easily dwarfs your teacher's Palace, and I think it extends deep underground too. It's something we should definitely check out. If you guys want to look into the Viceroy's Palace later, that's fine with me, but I'd rather deal with the one under our feet at this very moment."

"I can't just let the Viceroy be, especially if he has his own Palace," Kallen said after a moment. "But if my brother was investigating this other Palace, I need to see it for myself."

"I promised you that I would continue to help you pursue your brother's dream, Kallen," Lelouch replied. "Wherever that takes us."

"Ooh, how romantic," teased Milly.

"It's not like that," Kallen said with annoyance.

"Don't worry… Your secret is safe with me. I won't tell anyone how the two of you were all hot and bothered in the steamy shower yesterday."

Kallen's cheeks flushed red. "What did you tell her, Lelouch?" She demanded angrily.

"Nothing. Our Student Council President has good intuition, but she also has an overactive imagination."

"And you have to be a killjoy again, Lelouch. You have to live a little!' Milly urged.

"Ever since I awoke to the power of Persona, I feel more alive than I have in years," he retorted.

"To be honest, I feel the same way," Milly replied. "And if there's a massive Palace under the Settlement, Arthur's absolutely right that we should check it out. We'll do it together, not only as members of the Student Council, but as Black Knights."

xXx

No one thought anything of three Britannians arriving at a train station. Arthur may have been a more unusual sight, but Kallen let him ride in a handbag, which for the most part kept him hidden. Once they had reached a secluded corner of the station, Arthur poked his head up and said, "Okay, we're here. Try using the MetNav now. The key word is 'Mementos'."

The world distorted around them. Cracks appeared in the station walls, faintly emanating a red, pulsating light from them. In front of them, a pair of escalators descended into the unfathomable darkness below. There seemed to be a whispering in the air, or perhaps it was just the wind, but it sent a chill down Lelouch's spine.

"This is it… Mementos… the public's Palace…" Arthur explained. "It's the product of the shared cognition of the people of Tokyo… Britannian and Japanese alike."

So that was it. Those sounds really were voices, thoughts made manifest. Individually, they were too faint to make out clearly, and for the most part they blended together to produce a white noise, but there were certain currents in it that were more distinct, giving the impression of wind.

"Kind of spooky in here…" Milly murmured.

"So this is the Palace my brother was exploring…" Kallen whispered.

But Lelouch had noticed something else, that his fellow Black Knights were oblivious too. Behind them, there was a familiar blue glow. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Shi waiting nearby, the door to the Velvet Room beside her.

Turning, he approached the small green-haired girl.

"D-do you wish to speak to our master, Mr. Inmate?" Shi asked nervously.

Lelouch nodded.

"T-then I'll let you inside." She opened the door to the Velvet Room, and beckoned him through.

"We meet again, Trickster," Igor said. "You certainly found your way into Mementos quickly."

"Why didn't you say anything about this place?" Lelouch replied, causing Tsu to shoot him a warning glance. But instead of becoming angry, Igor simply let out a chuckle.

"You did not need to know at the time. But now that you are here, I shall speak more of Mementos. It is a vast distortion in the collective consciousness, of unfathomable depth, where the sinful thoughts of society lurk beneath the surface. It is from Mementos that all other Palaces are born. Unless your actions can produce a change in society's cognition, Mementos will only continue to grow as mankind inevitably approaches ruin. Yet Mementos also offers you great power…"

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked, ever wary of Igor.

"You will see in time, Trickster," Igor said, waving a hand dismissively. "For now, our services are at your disposal as always. Shi! Tsu!"

"Yes, Master?" The two girls said in unison.

"See to it that the Trickster's preparations are in order before he descends into Mementos."

"Of course," Tsu replied. She turned to Lelouch. "That is the nature of our contract, is it not?"

He nodded.

Some time later, after he had finished reviewing the Compendium and fusing new Personas, including Jack Frost, who had the appearance of a snowman mascot dressed in a blue cap, a matching collar festively decorated by jingle bells, and boots.

"I'm Jack Frost, hee-ho!" the newly born Persona said jovially. The power of the Magician flowed into Jack Frost from his bond with Arthur, and Lelouch sensed a sudden chill. Jack Frost had gained Mabufu, the spell to encase an area in ice.

"That Persona…" Shi murmured.

"You've done well, Inmate," Tsu said with a mysterious smile.

"Um… can I see… Jack Frost…again?," Shi asked softly.

"There's no need to be so modest," Tsu said, with a warmth that Lelouch hadn't heard before, even as she glared at him as if to say, "Disappoint my little sister, and you'll be sorry."

Nodding, Lelouch called up Jack Frost from the sea of his soul.

The small girl's face lit up into a bright smile that Lelouch hadn't seen from her before, and she bounded over to his Persona, giving Jack Frost a hug, as if he was a big plushie. In turn, Lelouch lightly felt a phantom pressure over his own waist. Jack Frost was part of him after all.

Shi seemed to notice this as well, for she suddenly let go.

"Hee-ho?" Jack Frost said with bewilderment.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Inmate," Shi said, averting her eyes from Lelouch. "I… was so excited that I… forgot…"

"Don't be," Lelouch told her. "You can't just keep apologizing like I'm going to hurt you at the slightest provocation." He chuckled. "Given how much more you know about Personas than I do, I'd bet that you and your sister could probably put me on the ropes pretty quick. After all, knowledge is power."

Tsu smirked. "You have no idea how right you are, Inmate. One day, perhaps you could be a challenge to us. But you'd stand no chance at all with your current power, pathetically weak as it is."

Lelouch scowled, but he wasn't eager to put the idea to the test.

"You know, my little sister isn't the only one who's too uptight at times, Inmate," Tsu continued with an airy laugh. "As if I would seriously suggest challenging you. But you do show some potential… so I think it's time to give you another task." She paused, and her golden eyes seemed to light up with a wicked gleam. "Bring me Shiisaa with Frei."

"But-" Shi began, suddenly anxious.

"It'll be all right," Lelouch said reassuringly. "I'll meet your sister's challenge."

She nodded. "Okay."

"And if you like cute things like Jack Frost, you should have just said so."

"Are you making fun of my little sister?" Tsu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not at all."

Lelouch felt like he knew both of them a bit better know. Deep within him, the Death Persona resonated, and he felt a tiny bit stronger as well.

Tsu looked at him knowingly. "You're welcome, Inmate."

Igor chuckled. "How remarkable. To think the three of you would advance your bond so quickly… May you continue to pursue your rehabilitation with such vigor, Trickster. You will have need of your bonds for the trials ahead."

xXx

Lelouch emerged from the Velvet Room.

"Back in this world with the rest of us?" Milly asked, her tone playful as always, though there was a note of concern mixed into it.

"You can't just zone out like that when we're in the Metaverse," Kallen said. "And that's not the first time it's happened. Are you sure you're up to this, Zero?"

"You don't need to worry," Lelouch said. A suitable lie came to mind. "Pausing to collect my thoughts like that helps me organize my Personas so they're ready for peak performance." The best lies always contained some of the truth, but this way, he didn't have to explain the Velvet Room to her.

Kallen turned to Arthur. "Did my brother do anything like that when he was in the Metaverse? You said he had the same gift as Zero."

Arthur thought for a moment. "Yes… he often seemed lost in thought when we entered Mementos, so I'd say it's probably normal for someone who can use multiple Personas."

"Well, then what are we worrying about?" Milly said with a smile, obviously trying to put the others at ease.

"Don't get cocky, Diamond," Arthur cautioned her. "Up here at the entrance is like one of those safe rooms in your teacher's Palace, but as soon as we descend down those escalators and get past the platform below, it will be crawling with Shadows."

"You worry too much, Tama," Milly replied. "They'll never see us coming. Isn't that right, Zero?"

"Indeed."

"The Shadows aren't the only thing that we have to worry about in Mementos," Arthur said, shaking his head. "Let me show you."

They went down the escalator, and found themselves at the mouth of a large subway tunnel, which promptly split into multiple winding paths that quickly faded into the darkness.

It's so big…" Milly murmured.

"To start with, Mementos is like a maze, even moreso than your teacher's Palace. But while her cognition was twisted, it was for the most part stable, until you got close to the center of her distortion. But Mementos… it constantly changes from day to day… it's never the same path through these tunnels twice…"

"Thenn how are we supposed to get around in here, Tama?" Kallen asked.

"Mementos is shaped by the public's cognition," Arthur replied. "Before the Britannians built the monorail system to serve the Tokyo Settlement, there was much older transportation network…"

"Teito Rapid Transit… the Old Tokyo subway system…" Kallen nodded. "Before it was bombed out by the Britannians."

"Exactly, Queen. To this day, there are still far more Japanese people around Tokyo than Britannians, and so Mementos takes the form of the old subway, rather than the modern monorail line. But as you know, the old subways still see some use in the real world, even if no trains run through them anymore."

"The Resistance uses them to transport supplies undetected. The tunnels are even big enough to fit stolen Knightmare Frames, provided that they haven't caved in yet."

"I've heard rumors that the terr- err… Resistance used the tunnels to that effect," Milly said, correcting herself but still earning a glare from Kallen. "But I thought the military closed them off."

"Hah! As if a Viceroy who spends as much time preening as Clovis would bother to learn where all the routes were! They just built over central Tokyo and left the rest to rot," Kallen retorted, practically spitting out the words. "No, there are plenty of tunnels left for us to use."

"And members of the Resistance know exactly where to find hidden hardware in the tunnels!" Arthur added excitedly.

"But what has that got to do with…" Kallen began. Her eyes widened. "Wait! Since when was that there?!"

Across from Kallen there was a Knightmare Frame that clearly hadn't been there just moments before. The machine was over four meters tall, and roughly humanoid in shape, but boxier and bulkier, and with an elongated head that contained sensor equipment. At a glance, the Knightmare seemed to have a hunched back, but the protrusion was really the cockpit and ejection system. On its own, such a design would have been quite unwieldy, but Knightmares solved this problem with a pair of land spinners sticking out of the back of the legs, providing balance and allowing the machines to zip around as if on roller skates.

"It's a Glasgow," Milly said quickly, "a fourth generation Knightmare Frame. It doesn't handle as well as the Ganymede that preceded it, but the empire wanted something suitable for mass production."

"You're rather knowledgable about Knightmares," Kallen said, eying Milly.

"Well, my grandfather's company did produce them before it was shut down and the empire seized the plans."

"That's fair," Kallen replied. "Of course, these days, outside of the Resistance, you mainly see Glasgows being used by the Knightpolice. The military has upgraded to Sutherlands, fifth generation frames. I'd love to get my hands on one…"

"Both of you know that's not really a Knightmare Frame, don't you?" Lelouch asked. "From what Tama described, that's a cognition of a Knightmare Frame."

"Don't be a spoilsport, Zero!" Milly pouted.

"What's the difference in this world?" Kallen asked. "I mean, I was startled when I first saw it because I wasn't expecting it, but if it's something I can pilot, that's good enough for me."

Lelouch struggled to find a response.

"She got you there, Zero," Arthur smirked.

"Fine! So you can pilot it?"

"Absolutely, if it's anything like a real Knightmare. Let's take a look."

Kallen led them over to the Glasgow. As if sensing her presence, the cockpit opened up, and cables extended down so that she could access it.

Kallen paused, looking up at the Knightmare warily.

"It's just a cognition," Arthur reassured her. "It responds to your thoughts."

"I know… it's just a bit… spooky."

"Don't tell me that you're afraid of ghosts, Queen," Milly grinned mischievously.

"Of course not!" As if determined to prove Milly wrong, Kallen swiftly clambered up into the cockpit, and inspected it with a professionalism that only an experienced pilot would have.

"The controls look normal," she reported after a moment. "But I can't find an activation key. Wait a moment… what's this?" Kallen moved her arm slightly, as if she was pressing a button, and the Knightmare Frame hummed to life.

"All diagnostics check out…." Kallen murmured. "I think we're good to go! All this Knightmare really needs is a paint job."

"Oh? What color?" Milly asked excitedly. "I can help you come up with a really cool design for it!"

"What does the color matter?" Lelouch asked irritably.

"You just don't get it, do you, Zero?" Milly reproached.

"I'd go for red myself," Kallen answered, "like my Glasgow in the real world."

"Or your hair," Milly teased.

"Anyways," Kallen said, ignoring Milly,"it's definitely going to be cramped in here. A Knightmare Frame is designed to carry only one person, the pilot, though it can transport a passenger in a pinch without much of an issue. But three people…"

"Don't forget me," Arthur piped up.

"You're a cat, Tama," Kallen replied. "You don't take much room. You can just curl up somewhere."

Indeed, it was a tight fit inside the Knightmare's cockpit. While Arthur was able to find a spot between Kallen's feet on the floor, Lelouch found himself shoulder-to-shoulder with Milly as they huddled behind Kallen. He fully expected Milly to make some quip about it, but her attention had turned to the display as Kallen began to navigate the Glasgow through the snaking tunnels of Mementos.

"It just keeps on going…" Milly murmured.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Arthur yawned lazily.

"Shadows, dead ahead!" Kallen suddenly called out. The land spinners of the Glasgow whirred as it charged forward.

"Why are you going faster?!" Milly said with alarm. "You'll run right into them!"

"I think that's her plan," Lelouch replied, a smirk spreading on his face.

"You can't be serious!"

But with every second, the gap between them and the Shadows closed.

Unlike the Shadows in Villetta's Palace, which had taken the appearance of knights, the Shadows in front of them were tall, lumbering, misshapen things with too many masks in their backs, aimlessly shuffling around through the tunnels.

"Here we go!" Kallen shouted. "Brace yourselves!"

There was a thud as their Knightmare crashed headlong into the Shadows, which let out shrieks of surprise and pain.

The Knightmare itself came to a halt, alarms flashing on its console, and suddenly Lelouch found himself thrown from it as if by an invisible force as its hatch opened.

"Is everyone okay?" Milly called out.

"I'm fine," Kallen said, already on her feet.

"You shouldn't be so reckless, Queen!" Arthur protested. "Your brother never- "

"Never mind that!" Lelouch shouted. "Thanks to Queen, the enemy is in disarray!

Let us take this chance to strike!" He ripped off his mask. "Ravage them, Jack Frost!"

Phantom chains clattered as Jack Frost appeared behind him in a swirl of illusory blue flames, though they gave off no heat, and did not seem to bother the snowy mascot.

"Hee ho!" Jack Frost laughed jovially. There was a sudden chill in the air as the Persona cast Mabufu against the enemy. He could now see that they were Jack o'Laterns, fiery cousins of Jack Frost and the first type of Shadow that Lelouch had ever fought, though that encounter in Villetta's dungeons seemed so distant now.

The Jack o'Laterns crumpled to the ground, violently shivering under the assault, and their flames seemed dim now. One was even frozen outright in a block of ice.

"Nicely done, Zero!" Arthur shouted.

"We surrender, hee-ho!" a Jack O'Latern moaned piteously.

"What have you got to offer us?" Milly asked, stretching her whip with an air of playful menace.

"Just cheap trash, I'm sure," Kallen said, brandishing her claw. "Just give the word Zero, and we'll wipe them out!"

"They're hardly worth killing," Lelouch replied.

"Hee-ho! We're saved!" The Jack O'Latern bobbed back up into the air. "Take this, hee-ho!"

"I'll never understand why there are Shadows carrying banknotes," Kallen sighed as the Jack O'Laterns departed and vanished into the darkness of the tunnels.

"Probably something to do with cognition," Arthur replied offhandedly.

"That doesn't explain anything!"

"At least we got something from them," Milly shrugged.

Lelouch nodded. "It may be a cognitive counterfeit, but you'd be hard pressed to tell this apart from the real thing."

They continued driving through Mementos, occasionally encountering escalators that let them proceed to lower tracks, fighting Shadows along the way. But soon, they saw something rather foreboding.

"What's that?" Kallen asked Arthur.

Before them, the tracks rose up from the ground and twisted into some sort of portal, glowing with an eerie red light.

"That's a Distortion," Arthur explained. "It's like a proto-Palace, formed around the germ of a Treasure. This is just a theory, but when we were exploring here, her brother thought that if left alone, the Distortion will continue to get larger until it breaks out of Mementos and becomes a full-fledged Palace."

That conformed with what Lelouch knew from Igor. Had Kallen's brother had the same conversation in the Velvet Room?

"Whose is it?" Milly asked, bringing his thoughts back to the moment.

"I have no idea," Arthur admitted.

"There's only one way to find out," Lelouch said. "Shall we?"

Kallen nodded. "Here goes nothing." Bringing the Glasgow up to speed, she deftly launched it off the raised tracks as if they were a ramp, and steered them through the portal.

The inside of the Distortion appeared to be a small chamber with a stone floor. Its architecture resembled the rest of Mementos, but there was a higher concentration of glowing red vein-like structures pulsating along its walls. There wasn't enough room to maneuver the Glasgow further into the chamber, so the Black Knights disembarked.

"Wh- who's there!" A voice stammered, startled by their sudden entrance into the Distortion.

Standing in the center of the chamber before them was a figure dressed in the black of the male Ashford Academy uniform, emblazoned with an SSDF armband. But that was impossible… no other students knew about the Metaverse or Mementos… did they?

The student turned around, revealing glowing yellow eyes.

"I know him!" Milly whispered. "He's the student leader of the SSDF!"

"Or rather, his Shadow," Lelouch muttered.

"Y- you guys are the Black Knights, aren't you?" The Shadow SSDF Leader trembled as it pointed a finger at them.

"So what if we are?" Lelouch replied coldly.

"You're the ones who blackmailed Coach Nu! I can't believe it! Everything they said was true! You are coming for me next!"

"Who's 'they'?" Kallen demanded.

"Do you realize what you've done? If filthy Elevens like Kururugi are allowed to remain at Ashford Academy, it puts all of us at risk! Any one of them could be a terrorist! Besides, letting their kind come to our school might get them thinking that they're somehow equal to us Britannians!"

"Shut up!" Kallen shouted, incensed.

"Now you've done it!" The Shadow SSDF Leader hissed. "For the honor of our school, I will not let myself be bested by miscreants like you!"

Dark energy converged on the Shadow SSDF Leader, much as it had before Shadow Villetta had transformed into Leviathan.

"Watch out!" Arthur called. "Here he comes!"

The Shadow SSDF Leader let out a roar, transformed into a massive white hound with a scaly tail. "If I bring you to justice, then surely the SSDF will rise again!"

"We'll show you justice!" Kallen retorted.

The Shadow SSDF Leader charged.

"Come, Medea!" Milly called out, pulling off her mask with a flourish. The hooded sorceress materialized, and cast a burst of flame at the Shadow SSDF Leader.

The Shadow kept charging, completely unfazed by the attack. Leaping up, it clawed at Milly, knocking her to her feet, and snarled viciously at her.

"Pick on someone your own size! Suzuka Gozen!"

Kallen's Persona appeared in an instant and plowed into the Shadow SSDF Leader, shoving him away from Milly.

"Hang in there, Diamond!" Arthur shouted. "Master Cat!" The booted feline heeded his call and held its rapier high as healing energy gathered around Milly, knitting her wounds closed.

"Thanks, you two! I thought I was a goner!"

"Don't mention it, Diamond!"

Back on his feet, the Shadow SSDF Leader charged again.

"How predictable," Lelouch laughed. "Slime!"

The hound crashed into Slime's viscid mass. Lelouch winced slightly, feeling the force of the blow through his Persona, but it was blunted.

"Go, Queen!" he ordered.

"I'm on it, Zero! Frei!"

Suzuka Gozen blasted the hound with nuclear fury.

"You'll pay for that, Eleven-lovers!" The Shadow SSDF Leader shouted as he freed himself from Slime, much of his fur scorched by radiation but angrier than ever. Flames erupted around the chamber, knocking Lelouch off-balance. He should have anticipated that the enemy would have other modes of attack!

Lelouch saw a streak of black dart past him. Arthur leapt into the fray, deftly driving the knife that he held between his teeth into the Shadow SSDF Leader's hindquarters. Arthur then clambered up the Shadow's back, even as it furiously tried to shake him off, and delivered some well-placed bites.

Milly wasted no time while the Shadow SSDF Leader was distracted by Arthur, and summoned Medea again. As her spell settled on Lelouch, he found the strength to rise once more.

"Time to finish this!" If his opponent used fire….

"Genbu!"

The black tortoise appeared just as Arthur leapt off the Shadow SSDF Leader, and encased their foe in ice. Jack Frost's greater magical ability would have been even more damaging to the enemy, but unlike Jack Frost, Genbu was not weak against fire.

The Shadow SSDF Leader uselessly tried to free himself, but his icy prison held.

"Launch an all-out attack!" Lelouch commanded.

"Got it!" The other Black Knights shouted in unison.

The Shadow SSDF Leader didn't stand a chance. Like Shadow Villetta before him, the darkness that had empowered him dispersed, and he was left lying on the floor, his will to fight broken.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Kallen taunted.

"Who… even… are you guys?" The Shadow SSDF Leader asked in bewilderment. "How… can I… lose?"

"Don't you know that already?" Lelouch smirked. "We are the Black Knights… the ones who will tear down this rotten society and build it anew."

"What… do you want from me? I'll… give you anything."

"Answering our questions would be a good start," Milly said.

"I concur," Arthur said. "Someone was saying that we'd be coming for you next?"

"More like everyone. After seeing Coach Nu's humiliation the other day, the rumors were that you would be coming after the other members of the SSDF next. And they were right."

"After a fashion," Milly shrugged.

"Are you going to blackmail me like you did Coach Nu?"

"Oh, you have no idea…" Lelouch smirked.

"Don't you Britannians say the weak should follow the strong?" Kallen spat. "We beat you, so you're not in any position to be demanding answers from us."

Lelouch walked over to the Shadow SSDF Leader. Above their fallen foe, a faintly gleaming mote of light had appeared.

"Is that…" Arthur began.

"Yes," Lelouch said, seizing the object in a single motion. "It's a Treasure… or at least, what might have become one."

"But we didn't send a calling card this time," Kallen objected. "Didn't we have to do that to force the Treasure to materialize?"

"The students of Ashford Academy served as our calling card," Lelouch replied. "It was a false calling card, but it proved effective nonetheless. After seeing what happened to Coach Nu, it was able to convince him that his desires could be stolen as well, and that he would be our next target. And so they were." He turned to the Shadow SSDF Leader. "You will cease all attempts to harass Suzaku Kururugi or any other Japanese students, current or future, and you will turn yourself in to the headmaster for your role in helping Coach Nu frame Suzaku. Do you understand?"

The Shadow SSDF Leader nodded weakly. "This is truly the end of the SSDF… I expect that the group will unravel without me and Coach Nu to lead it. But you've made me see the error of my ways. I was wrong to frame Kururugi, and to underestimate the Elev-"

Kallen glared at him, the anger in her blue eyes clear through her lotus mask.

"Japanese," the Shadow SSDF Leader said, cringing away from Kallen as he corrected himself.

"That's better."

With that, the Shadow SSDF Leader vanished.

"Just a rabid dog," Lelouch pronounced.

"What was his Treasure anyway?" Milly asked.

Lelouch opened his hand. It was a pin, bearing the coat of arms of the SSDF Leader's family.

"He thought he was superior to everyone, especially the Japanese, all because of his noble family." Lelouch laughed. "How absurd. It isn't even a particularly powerful family at that. Like Coach Nu, he probably just saw the SSDF as a way to increase his own prestige."

"You know, if we can steal hearts within Mementos… ," Arthur began.

"Exactly, Tama. We can change the hearts of anyone whom we send a calling card to, and not just the high-profile targets who have their own Palaces." A wicked grin spread on Lelouch's face. "Their reformation may not have the same impact on society as those of truly depraved Palace rulers, but every heart we change makes a difference, no matter how small. This opens a vast range of possibilities to us."

"But we can't just use this power to settle petty grudges," Milly said. "Whenever we steal someone's heart, we take their very desires from them, permanently altering their personality. You saw how much of an effect that had on Coach Nu. We have to be sure that whoever we target is deserving of having their heart changed. It's not something we can do lightly."

"That's right!" Kallen agreed.

"Of course," Lelouch said smoothly. "The standards we use for choosing targets in the Palaces should apply to Mementos; the decision should be unanimous. But I think that we can all agree that we hate bullies, who prey on the weak just like parasitic nobles do. Many of them will never learn to be better people on their own."

The other Black Knights nodded.

"So let's start by cleaning up Ashford Academy."

 **A/N: I apologize for the long delay. Work and other things IRL kept me busy over the last few months. However, I already have the next chapter, an interlude that will cover concurrent events with other characters, drafted up in its entirety, and it just needs a bit of revision, so that should be published very soon.**

 **Jack Frost is the de facto mascot of Atlus,** **the company that makes Persona 5.**

 **In the original Persona 5, the Phantom Thieves used a van to travel through Mementos (which was actually Morgana, transformed by the power of cognition). I didn't want Arthur to have the same ability to transform that Morgana did, but I figured that Knightmares would work as a method of moving through Mementos that connected well to Code Geass' setting.**

 **At first, I was planning for this chapter to feature Shadow Jeremiah, but I decided it would be more logical to show the Black Knights changing the hearts of bullies at Ashford, like the SSDF Leader, first. Shadow Jeremiah will appear after the interlude.**

 **Hopefully nobody minds too much that I didn't give the SSDF Leader a proper name, but he is a minor character in the scheme of things.**

 **Thank you for continuing to follow this story!**


	14. Interlude - Leila and Clovis

"I couldn't help but wonder what a lovely lady such as yourself was doing in a corner by herself during a party," a suave male voice said.

Leila Breisgau looked up from her book. She knew that voice. Indeed, she doubted if there was anyone in Japan who did not know that voice.

"Prince Clovis," she said, careful to mask her annoyance at being interrupted from her reading. As the Third Prince of Britannia and the colonial Viceroy, he was by far the most powerful man in Japan.

As a woman of average height, Clovis stood significantly taller than her. Seven years her senior, Clovis was a handsome man, impeccably dressed in a dark blue-violet suit with gold trim, with a white handkerchief tucked in at his neck. Like Leila, he had blonde hair, though his was a much darker shade than hers. His eyes were blue instead of the violet of so many of his royal half-siblings, but from how he dressed and carried himself, no one could look at Clovis and believe that he wasn't a royal.

To Leila, that wasn't a good thing.

"May I ask what you are reading?" Clovis asked, every bit with the air of a gentleman.

There was no point in refusing the Third Prince's request. "Guibert's 'A General Essay on Tactics'," she replied.

"A French author?" Clovis asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"His ideas on military organization were ahead of his time," Leila said simply.

"I meant no disrespect," Clovis smiled easily. "I happened to visit Paris once, accompanying my older brother, Prince Schneizel, on a diplomatic mission. It has inspired a number of my works of art since, just as you draw inspiration from French tactics. A pity that they allow themselves to be governed by such rabble these days."

Leila nodded slightly, privately thinking that she would much rather be in France right now.

Apparently sensing that her thoughts were distant, Clovis took a different track. "My condolences about your family, Lady Breisgau. It was a terrible accident, and I will personally see to it that it is fully investigated." He paused. "I know what it feels like to lose family… When terrorists attacked the Aries Villa… and then, when the Elevens killed…" His hand momentarily clenched into a fist.

"They're not Elevens, they're Japanese," Leila said quietly.

"I'm not sure I heard you correctly, Lady Breisgau," Clovis said, frowning.

"Even years after the war, they hold onto their culture and pride. You underestimate them at your own peril, Viceroy."

Clovis chuckled. "Your father said as much to me. But I assure you, we are perfectly safe here, and you will have nothing to fear for as long as I protect the people of Area 11."

Leila said nothing, but she knew that by "people", Clovis meant "Britannians."

What did the Third Prince want from her? She knew he hadn't come over to her by chance. She was already busily running scenarios in her head, but she couldn't find a way to gracefully extricate herself from his presence.

"I am glad that you survived the accident," Clovis told her, "and I know you must still be grieving," wisely choosing not to mention her dress, the same black dress she had worn to her parents' funeral. She had heard many of the other assembled nobles making comments about the "bad taste" she had shown in wearing it to a party, but she couldn't care less of what they thought. It was still formal wear, and she wasn't going to waste time picking out a fancy new dress just for one of the Viceroy's parties when she had so much else on her mind.

"I would sometimes play chess with your father, and he was always a worthy opponent. He spoke highly of your wit, and I now see that you are gifted with great beauty as well, just like your mother." The Viceroy bowed slightly, and held out a gloved hand. "I am sure they would not want you to close yourself off from everything this world has to offer." He bowed to her. "Would you grace me with a dance, Lady Breisgau, and perhaps a match later?"

So that was it. She should have suspected as much. He was courting her. Did he think she was naive? Her parents had been investigating Clovis and his research into cognitive psience before they died. That "car crash" had been no accident, though there was still the question of if it had been meant to kill her too, or if it was just chance that she had been in the car when mental shutdowns claimed her family. She felt sick recalling how their eyes had rolled back into their heads, black ichor oozing from their every orifice.

Still, she was free to move through the Tokyo Settlement, inherit the title of Countess, and even receive an invitation to dance from the Viceroy himself. Could she conclude that Clovis had somehow deemed her, the daughter of spies, harmless? Somehow, she doubted that the Viceroy was _that_ careless, or else he would not have survived for so long. Perhaps he had decided that eliminating her so soon after her parents would make that which he was trying to hide too obvious to observers, and he was trying to lower her guard in the meantime. Or maybe he was testing her loyalty? If so, she hadn't so far made a good show of political orthodoxy. What had she been thinking, bringing a book by a Frenchman to a Britannian high society party, and talking back to the Viceroy when he called the Japanese 'Elevens'? Clearly, her grief had clouded her judgment and made her act recklessly.

Yet at the same time, Clovis had offered her an opportunity. If she could get close to him, then perhaps she could learn what her parents had died looking for. It was a dangerous game for both of them, and Clovis had already made the first move, but a good tactician had to be ready to adapt to any situation.

Taking a breath, she faked a smile, and took the Viceroy's hand, trying not to think about the blood it was stained with.

"I would love to," she lied.

Clovis led her to the center of the ballroom, and Leila was aware that dozens of envious eyes were upon her. She did her best to ignore them. She needed all of her concentration for a convincing performance.

She made some missteps in the dance, but with one hand around her waist, and the other holding her hand forward, Clovis seamlessly accommodated for her inexperience without criticism, expertly guiding her through the routine. Leila didn't delude herself into thinking that she was the first girl he had danced with, but if the Third Prince hadn't been her enemy, it might have been an enjoyable experience for her.

Of course, Clovis then had to start talking.

"When I first came to Area 11, Lady Breisgau, it was still in ruins from the war. In just a few short years, I have rebuilt Tokyo into the shining, modern city that it is today. It is a model for other settlements throughout the Area. But much work remains to be done. There are still ghettos in dire need of urban renewal. In their place, I shall construct parks, concessions, museums, theaters, and opera houses. My people will have every comfort and be surrounded by the arts. Soon, the Tokyo Settlement will even be the envy of those living back in the homeland."

Leila had to stop herself from frowning. Clovis' planned "urban renewal" would mean the displacement of countless Japanese people from their homes, pushing them to ever greater desperation.

Suddenly, the doors to the ballroom were thrown open, and everyone stopped dancing to turn to see what the commotion was. A bald, heavyset and dark-skinned man in his late fifties with a thin mustache, dressed in a military uniform decorated with medals and wearing a monocle over his right eye, hurried into the room as quickly as he could, huffing from exertion. Leila knew him to be General Bartley Aspirius, Clovis's right-hand man in Area 11.

"What is the matter, Bartley?" Clovis said with annoyance as he turned from Leila, still holding her by the waist. "Can't you see that you're interrupting a party?"

"My apologies, Your Highness," Bartley said as he bent over, both in contrition and trying to catch his breath. "There's been a terrorist bombing in one of the outlying commercial districts! We're still awaiting casualty reports, but many are feared dead! You need to issue some kind of response!"

"That's why you barged in?" Clovis fumed. "Fool! Attacks from terrorist Elevens happen all the time! You cause more panic by making a scene like that! Next time, make sure it's something important before you disturb me and my guests!"

People dying wasn't important to him?

"Your highness!" Bartley gasped.

"Still, if the media want me to put on a show for them, who am I to deny them?" Clovis asked with a smile, his anger suddenly dissipating. He turned back to Leila. "If you'll excuse me, Lady Breisgau, I have to address the nation. Don't worry; it will only take a minute."

Without waiting for her to reply, Clovis strode up to a dais at the end of the ballroom, a throne perched atop of it, with the coat of arms of the Britannian royal family emblazoned on the wall behind him. A pair of butlers wordlessly approached the prince and slipped a white, military-style cloak decorated with golden epaulets onto the Viceroy's shoulders and fastened it in place for him with practiced ease. Another aide pressed a button beside the Viceroy's dais, and a camera and lights extended down from the ceiling.

"Going live, your Highness, in three, two, one…"

"To all my Imperial subjects," Clovis began, projecting his voice to the camera's microphone, "Including of course the many cooperative Elevens who choose to serve the empire of Britannia," he said, spreading his hands wide. Clovis then clutched his chest, affecting a distraught expression. "Do you not see my pain? My heart was ripped from my chest, only to be torn apart! Its remnants are filled with rage and sadness! However, as ruler of Area 11, I will not tolerate terrorism of any kind! Because the battle we fight is a righteous one! A virtuous battle, to protect the well-being of one and all! And so I ask you to join me in observance of those who died for justice in the line of duty."

"A moment of silence, please," an announcer said.

Leila lowered her head, quietly praying for the victims. As heavy-handed as Clovis' regime was toward the Japanese, that didn't justify the killing of innocents. They had been caught up in a cycle of violence that had claimed far too many lives already and would only intensify with time, as old wounds festered and the Viceroy carried out further reprisals. She could only hope that their souls would find peace.

The broadcast ended, and the camera retracted from the dais. Clovis stepped down to the ballroom floor, and his butlers removed his cloak before vanishing to the sides again.

"You were magnificent, Your Highness! One would never guess you were attending a party while doing that!" a fawning young woman said, perhaps seeing an opportunity to divert the Viceroy's attention from Leila.

Clovis smiled. "After all, the Viceroy is the marquee actor of Area 11. I need to change costumes quickly."

"My, you're so self-confident!" Another woman beside the first said, flattering the Viceroy.

"It's all in the performance," Clovis replied, adjusting his handkerchief. Since the media want a charismatic prince, I give them one." His gaze turned, seeking out Leila in the crowd. "What did you think, Lady Breisgau?"

Truth be told, she was disgusted. With its wholehearted embrace of social Darwinism, assassinations and racism were sadly commonplace upon the Britannian nobility, an institutionalized evil. But to be able to casually and callously lie to an entire nation was something else entirely. Clovis didn't feel any grief at all for the dead, his fellow Britannians at that… just self-satisfaction with his skill at manipulating millions of people and an inflated sense of self-importance from his position as Viceroy.

It wasn't an ordinary sort of evil, and went far beyond mere sociopathy. Outwardly, Clovis was perfectly charming. But the glimpse she had just caught of his true nature was monstrous.

"It was wonderful, Your Highness," she lied, hating how simpering she sounded as she said those words, but self-preservation had to come first. It took all of her willpower not to clench her hand into a fist, which would have given her away.

Clovis regarded her for a moment, and Leila wondered if she had answered incorrectly. What if the Viceroy was looking for the more free-spoken behavior that she had shown earlier? But why would he surround himself with yes-men if that was what he wanted?

"I'm glad you think so," he said, beaming. "Now, where were we… Ah, I know! Why don't we have that chess match now? Hold nothing back. I'm eager to see your skills."

"I would like that," she replied. That at least was not a lie. It would help her vent her frustration to play against Clovis. She couldn't challenge him overtly, not here, but having him as an opponent in a game was the next best thing. Besides, chess was always a good way to hone one's tactical skill.

"Very good," he said. "But let's find a more secluded space… I don't want there to be any distractions during our match."

xXx

She soundly defeated Clovis, easily seeing through his traps and carefully protecting her pieces to checkmate his king with a minimum of casualties.

"Very impressive, Lady Breisgau," Clovis said, good-naturedly chuckling in spite of his defeat. "You've never thought of enlisting in the military? With your obvious interest and gift in tactics, I could use an officer like you under my command. Bartley is skilled at logistics, and thus he finds a place in my administration, but as a commander he leaves much to be desired. As you saw, his timing can also be atrocious when it comes to affairs of state."

"My interest... is purely academic," she replied softly.

"A pity," the Viceroy said. "I would urge you to reconsider. I could have you fast-tracked through the training. With your intelligence, it would certainly be a trivial matter for you to place out of most the prerequisite courses for officers, and there's no reason why a healthy young woman like yourself wouldn't be able to meet the physical requirements for piloting a Knightmare. With your own noble rank and my influence, I could even have you graduate as a lieutenant colonel in less than a year."

"Perhaps another time," she said. "I can't think of such things while there are still my parents' affairs to settle."

The Viceroy nodded. "I only ask that you do so when you find the time. You may think it mere flattery, but I can think of only two people who have so thoroughly outmatched me at chess: Second Prince Schneizel…. And…" His expression turned to a frown. Finally, he sighed, "The late Eleventh Prince."

"Lelouch vi Britannia…" she murmured.

Clovis nodded wistfully. "Correct. You must follow the royal family closely. With my father's one hundred and eight wives and their offspring, even I, a royal myself, have trouble keeping track of who's who at times. I barely know many of my half-siblings. And the subject of the vi Britannias has been practically taboo since…" his voice trailed off, and he cast his eyes downward.

After a moment, he looked up again. "I think you would have liked my brother, Leila… may I call you Leila? It gets suffocating to have to use our titles all the time, don't you agree? Of course, I will extend the same courtesy to you."

She nodded, if only to play her part.

"At the very least, it would have been interesting to see the two of you play against each other. He would have only been about a month younger than you if he had lived. But he and his sister met their deaths here in Area 11, and that is not something that I can forgive."

It was a more human side of Clovis. But it didn't justify his actions toward the Japanese, and it couldn't erase what she had seen during the broadcast.

"I plan to dedicate my next project to them," he told her, looking thoughtful. "It's almost out of the planning stages. Assuming there are no delays, I should be able to start breaking ground in about three weeks. When it's done, I would like you to be there with me at the dedication ceremony, Leila."

"As you wish, Viceroy Clovis".

"Just Clovis, please," he corrected her.

xXx

Being free of Clovis could not come soon enough for her. But stifling as the role of reluctant debutante had been for her, she believed that she had learned something valuable from the experience.

"Clovis la Britannia," she intoned. "Government Bureau…." She paused. This was the moment of truth.

"Theater."

The world around her flickered.

"Destination confirmed: Theater of Vanity. Beginning navigation."

 **A/N:**

 **As previously noted, Leila is originally the deuteragonist of Code Geass, Akito the Exiled, and interquel set between the first and second seasons of the show. Leila's background is altered here with the divergence that her parents did not defect to Europia, but remained in the Britannian Empire as spies for Europia instead. This incarnation of Leila does not hold a military rank, as like her parents, she does not believe in Britannia's goals, and would not choose to serve it. Instead, she is carrying on her parent's mission where they left off, conducting espionage into Clovis' research, which in this story focuses on cognitive psience.**

 **The idea of having Leila attending one of Clovis' parties was largely drawn from a scene in the first Akito the Exiled movie, where Leila attends a party of aristocrats, supposedly to celebrate a victory on the front, while they are largely indifferent to the war, or talk about how they profit from it. As in this story, Leila committed a number of social faux pas at the party, including reading in a corner and wearing her military uniform (replaced by her funeral dress here), showing her at times introverted personality. The unwanted attention paid to her Clovis in this interlude was also intended to parallel how she had to face the unwanted attentions of one of her older adoptive brothers in the original scene, though said brother was far more boorish in how he approached her. As for why I thought Clovis would have an interest in Leila, she already has her speculations, but I shall elaborate more upon that as Clovis' Palace, and hence his psyche, is explored.**

 **Clovis's speech during the broadcast is taken verbatim from his speech in Episode 1 of Code Geass, as it effectively communicated key ideas that give rise to his Palace, and by definition of being from the source material, is undeniably true to his character. That being said, the reader should not assume that the timing and the details of the incident are exactly the same. Canonically, Clovis' broadcast occurs August 15, 2017 a.t.b. but since this story follows the general pacing of Persona 5's plot, we can assume that in this story he is giving his speech in early May, 2017 a.t.b., after the first Palace is conquered, and leading into the second.**

 **As the ending of the interlude makes clear, Leila already knows how to access the Metaverse. This is meant to parallel another plot point from Akito the Exiled, but I will not elaborate further into that to avoid spoiling those details for those who are not already familiar with it.**

 **Next up will be the Black Knights returning to Mementos, and Shadow Jeremiah!**


	15. The Margrave and the Maid

"The other SSDF leaders turned themselves in too?"

"It's not just them… a friend of mine was getting bullied… but then the bully came up to him out of the blue, and started crying, saying how sorry he was."

"It's all the Black Knights' doing?"

"They all received a calling card before their hearts were changed."

"I hear they've even begun targeting criminals off-campus."

"Don't forget - the Black Knights _are_ criminals."

"But they're doing so much good around campus, it's hard not to root for them."

"Doesn't it strike you as creepy?"

"They're like phantoms…"

"You know, I hear someone started a website documenting the activities of the Black Knights."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they're calling it 'KnightWatch'."

"Huh. I'll have to check that out after school."

'By the way, have you heard about the Viceroy's new girlfriend?"

"Countess Breisgau?"

"She's so lucky! If I could have a guy as dashing as Prince Clovis falling for me…"

Unseen, a black cat scurried from the bushes and headed over to the Clubhouse.

xXx

"The Black Knights are the talk of Ashford Academy," Arthur reported as he entered their hideout, the Student Council room. Nina, Rivalz, and Shirley had already departed to work on other tasks, leaving the thieves by themselves. "You guys have even got your own fan site now."

"Really?" Milly perked up.

"KnightWatch. It's no better than a rumor mill," Lelouch said disdainfully. "You've got the people who pretend to be Black Knights. You've got baseless speculation. You've got the skeptics. And you have those who are just trying to rile everyone else up."

"Well, it shows that we've had an impact, doesn't it?" Milly asked. "We've made the school a better place, haven't we?"

"We've all but dismantled the SSDF here at Ashford, but they're just small fries," Kallen replied irritably. "We've done nothing to weaken the Purists as a whole, and every day they remain untouched, they continue to tighten their grip over Japan. Not only that, but their influence will work its way back into Ashford, and then we'll be right back where we started."

"Who do we need to take down?" Milly asked after a moment.

"I'm glad you asked, Lelouch said with a smirk. "I've been doing some research of my own into the Purists," He brought up an article on his, computer. "Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald," he read. "He appears to be the current leader of their faction, followed by Lord Kewell Soresi. And I found something else that I think you'll find quite interesting." He brought up another article, with a picture showing Jeremiah and the other Purists at a state function. "Look right there," he said, pointing at a figure behind Jeremiah.

"It's Coach Nu!" Milly said.

"Seeing how closely she seems to shadowing him," Lelouch continued, "I'm guessing that the Margrave was her benefactor among the Purists. The other Purists would never accept her otherwise. Doubtlessly, much of the influence she was able to hold over Ashford Academy stemmed from him."

Kallen clenched a fist. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"The decision needs to be unanimous," Lelouch said. He looked from Kallen to Milly. Isn't that what we agreed upon, Madam President?"

"It is," Milly nodded.

"I'll go with whatever the majority wants," Arthur said.

"You and Kallen want to steal his heart, right?" Milly asked, looking back up to Lelouch.

"Don't feel that we're pressuring you," he told her. "If you're not comfortable with the decision, we'll find another target that we can all agree on."

This was the tipping point. They had long since established that they were partners in crime. There was little risk that any of them would betray the others. But going after the Purists would be the next step down a path that they would be soon unable to turn from.

"That's not fair, Lelouch," Milly pouted. "You know I can't just turn my back on my friends. And we can't have Ashford going back to how it was when Coach Nu and the SSDF were taking over. Count me in."

"How will we deliver a calling card?" Arthur asked. "He may know of us through what happened to Villetta, but I doubt he'd think that we're coming for him next. We need to alert him to that fact."

"We can't just keep post calling cards around campus, like we've been doing," Kallen said. "One of these days, we'll be caught."

"Actually, I have an idea," Lelouch said, smirking. "Assuming that the Margrave was close to Coach Nu, considering how he must have vouched for her to join the Purists, he's probably started looking into the Black Knights already. Short of actually coming to Ashford to investigate in person, what would be the most readily available source of information on us?"

"But I you were saying -"

"Yes, KnightWatch is just a rumor mill," Lelouch replied. "That doesn't mean that we can't start some rumors of our own and spread them to our advantage…."

xXx

"What? These lowlifes dare challenge me?" the Margrave fumed. The forum on KnightWatch had been abuzz since a user with the handle of "Zero" announced that the next target of the Black Knights would be a certain Jeremiah Gottwald.

He hadn't told anyone else that he was looking into such a disreputable site. Kewell and the others still didn't believe in the changes of heart that had been going on at Ashford Academy. He didn't blame them. It seemed too fanciful to be true. But with the as of yet unexplained mental shutdowns plaguing the city, was a change of heart truly that far-fetched? Indeed, he was certain that they were related. Any doubts he had in the reality of the Black Knights' ability to change the hearts of their targets were dispelled when he had a chance to speak to Villetta in her holding cell while the higher-ups tried to decide upon an appropriate punishment for her. His subordinate's personality had utterly changed.

He chuckled, and after a moment, it turned into an unrestrained laugh. "Then I, Jeremiah Gottwald, accept your challenge, Black Knights! Show yourselves, if you dare!"

xXx

"You were right, Zero," Arthur said as they disembarked from the cognitive Glasgow into the Distortion. They were deeper in Mementos than last time, but they had found their target. "Judging from the size of this Distortion, its well on its way to becoming a Palace."

"I was expecting terrorists, not a costume party," Shadow Jeremiah said dismissively as he eyed their thief outfits. He looked exactly like the Jeremiah they had seen in pictures, except, like all Shadows, his eyes had a supernatural glow. "You're Britannians, aren't you? I suppose it makes sense that the Black Knights would be students. But why would you turn against your country?"

"We're supposed to just stand idly by while your minions make life for everyone at our school miserable, Britannian and Japanese alike?" Milly retorted.

"And I'm not Britannian, I'm Japanese!" Kallen shouted.

"Impressive. You could have passed for a Britannian. A half-breed, perhaps? In any case, you're a fiery one, I see," Shadow Jeremiah smirked. "I'll enjoy putting you in your place, Eleven. Do try to make it a challenge."

"What loyalty do we owe a decadent regime that mercilessly crushes the weak and discriminates against anyone who is different?" Lelouch sneered. "Britannia must be destroyed, and when we steal your heart, we'll be one step closer to creating a better world in its place!"

"I swore an oath of loyalty to Britannia," Shadow Jeremiah glared, "and to protect those under my command. Darkness gathered around him. "If there is one thing that I cannot abide, it is DISLOYALTY!"

Shadow Jeremiah transformed, becoming a muscled warrior clad in a studded leather hauberk and helmet, wielding a large sword.

"I am Jeremiah Siegfried Gottwald, the embodiment of loyalty," the Shadow declared. "Villetta, you may have lost your way, but you were still a loyal knight of Britannia. You shall be avenged! I will not fail again! ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!"

"I don't think so! Suzuka Gozen!" Kallen yelled. Her Persona flew up to Siegfried, swinging its dual blade. Her aim was true, but Siegfried's skin was like steel, and the blade just bounced off.

"What the hell?" Kallen sputtered. "Physical attacks don't work?"

"You'll have to do better than that, Eleven!" Siegfried counterattacked, and Suzuka Gozen only narrowly leapt out of harm's way.

"Your reflexes are sharp, Eleven. But can you match this?"

Siegfried held out a hand, and for a moment was surrounded by a green light.

Lelouch knew that spell. It was Sukukaja. That meant-

But he had no time to think. Buffed by Sukukaja's effects, Siegfried's agility had increased tremendously, allowing him to move far faster than he had any right to. It was only by hurriedly summoning Slime that Lelouch was able to momentarily halt Siegfried's charge.

"Spread out and attack with magic!" Lelouch ordered. "Probe for a weak point! He has to have one!"

His teammates obliged. Medea blasted Siegfried with fire, and Master Cat fanned those flames with the wind conjured by the Garu spell, setting Siegfried ablaze.

"You think that will stop me?" Siegfried raged. He went on a rampage, swinging his blade wildly as he darted back and forth, still on fire, sending the Black Knights into disarray.

"Behold the strength of my loyalty!" Seigfried bellowed, taking advantage of the momentary lull in the Black Knight's offense. He held out a hand, and red energy rushed in around him.

"That doesn't look good!" Arthur called.

"It's like he's charging up for some big attack!" Milly gasped, doubled over. Medea had protected her from Siegfried's blows, but she still felt them through her Persona.

This wasn't good. They had to knock Siegfried off balance before he could unleash his next attack, or they would be done for.

"Jack Frost!" Lelouch shouted, invoking the name of his most magically potent Persona.

"Bufu, hee-ho!"

Shards of ice crystallized around Siegfried. The Shadow grimaced slightly, but its stance did not waver.

Dammit! It was resistant to ice! Milly and Arthur's attacks had been far more effective than his own, but even they hadn't been enough to hobble Siegfried.

"Die, traitors!" Siegfried bellowed.

"Not if I have something to say about it!" Kallen yelled. "Suzuka Gozen!" Dashing forward, her Persona moved to strike.

Siegfried laughed, causally blocking her blade with his bare arm. "You already know that's useless, Eleven."

"Guess again."

Suzuka Gozen's other clawed hand swooped down to grab Siegfried by the waist. Lelouch felt a sudden thrill through him, knowing what would happen next. He could only hope that it would work, for they would be out of time if it didn't.

"Frei!" Kallen commanded, and a blue burst of radiation erupted from Suzuka Gozen's claw, striking Siegfried at point-blank range.

"Ugh!" Siegfried's eyes went wide as the radiation wracked his body.

"It's working!" Milly cried.

"You saved us there," Arthur grinned.

"Keep it up, Queen!" Lelouch encouraged.

"One more!" Kallen shouted triumphantly.

Another burst of radiation slammed into Siegfried.

"Argh!" Suzuka Gozen's spells had melted a hole in Siegfried's armor, and left the Shadow looking like a wreck. Siegfried coughed up blood, and in another moment the darkness he had gathered dissipated, leaving Shadow Jeremiah on his knees.

"No….I've…failed… again…." Shadow Jeremiah lamented.

"That will teach you not to look down upon us Japanese," Kallen huffed, standing over him.

"I'm sorry… Lady Marianne…" Shadow Jeremiah continued, ignoring her, his golden eyes distant.

"Wait. Did he say…?" Milly started.

"He did," Lelouch said. "You knew Marianne vi Britannia?" He asked Shadow Jeremiah.

"Knew her? I was a member of her Royal Guard at the Aries Villa! He raised his hands in front of him, trembling. "How I admired her! Loved her, even, if only from afar! It was my first assignment… what an honor it was to be chosen! But then…." His voice turned to a wail. "She was killed, and I helpless to prevent it… I thought I could redeem myself by guarding her children… but they were exiled, and then killed as well, butchered by the Elevens! My loyalty was unfulfilled! And now… even that will be taken from me! I know what you did to Villetta! This is the end of Jeremiah Gottwald."

"Serves you-" Kallen began to say, but Lelouch raised a hand to silence her.

"You joined the Purists to exact a misplaced revenge against the Japanese people, even though you must have known that they had nothing to do with the vi Britannia's disappearance," Lelouch pronounced, his tone condemnatory.

"I - "

"What justice is there in persecuting an entire nation for the actions of a few? Do you even know that the Japanese killed them, or is that what you were led to believe?"

"No…"

"You then stood idly by, allowing your subordinate to run rampant as she flagrantly abused her power, brutalizing those she was supposed to coach, and framing an innocent youth in the hopes of having him expelled. You probably would have supported her in the latter if it meant discrediting the Honorary Britannian system."

"I admit it…". Shadow Jeremiah's eyes hung with shame. "Not only did I fail to protect Lady Marianne, but I'm a miserable excuse for a human being."

"You then turned to serve Prince Clovis in the absence of Lady Marianne?"

"That's right… bitterness and loyalty to the royal family was all that I had left."

"But you would still serve her if you could."

"Gladly! Above all else!"

"And what of her children, if they were still alive?"

"I would be theirs to command!"

Raising his hands, Lelouch slowly removed his mask, and then returned his gaze to Shadow Jeremiah, letting his fallen foe take a good look at his face.

"Can it…" Shadow Jeremiah murmured in disbelief. "Are you saying… that Zero is…"

"Jeremiah Gottwald, Lelouch vi Britannia commands you: join us, and atone for your sins. We, the Black Knights, stand for justice. Though we commit evil by stealing the hearts of others, in doing so we defeat greater evils."

"Is redemption for my failures and sins truly possible for me?" Shadow Jeremiah shook his head, tears welling from his eyes. "No. I needn't ask. If you are truly Lelouch vi Britannia, then you are my rightful lord."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Hanged Man Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

Shadow Jeremiah's face softened. "I will return to my real self now… But where shall I find you, Your Highness?"

"Look to Ashford Academy."

"We will meet again, young Prince."

With that, Shadow Jeremiah faded into light.

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed or appalled right now," Kallen said after a moment. "You just talked down the leader of the Purists, and convinced him to switch sides… but he only joined you because you're the prince whose family he swore to serve. You knew he couldn't refuse you. Are you really okay with this, letting him go without any sort of punishment for his crimes against -"

"The Margrave will be paying for his crimes for the rest of his life. Besides, I think we just gained a far more useful asset than if we were simply to force him to confess to everything publicly. Tama and your brother could never figure out how to enter Clovis' Palace on their own, correct?"

"That's correct," Arthur said with a hint of irritation.

"But with my knowledge of Clovis as my half-brother, and the Margrave's intelligence from within the Viceroy's camp, discovering the necessary keywords before long is practically assured."

"You know, you're really insufferable when you're smug, Zero." Kallen retorted.

"He has a point though," Milly replied. "Still, I can't help but wonder how my grandfather is going to react when Margrave Gottwald shows up on his doorstep."

"Then there's the matter that you didn't actually take his Treasure," Arthur said. "His heart is still distorted…. though the Distortion does seem to have lessened somewhat," he admitted, glancing around. The chamber they were standing in no longer seemed quite as large as before. It certainly wouldn't be turning into a Palace any time soon.

"What's done is done," he said simply.

"Yeah… I just hope you know what you're doing, Zero," Milly said softly.

While their mission was done, they continued to explore further into Mementos for some time. However, before long, they reached a platform on a lower level where the path abruptly seemed to end, completely blocked off by a dark gray stone barrier covered with criss-crossing glowing red lines that formed intricate patterns.

"Huh? Is this it?" Kallen asked in confusion. "Is this the bottom of Mementos?"

"It can't be!" Arthur said adamantly. "There has to be something in here that awakened me to my powers! I need to know why!"

"There wouldn't be a barrier like this here if there wasn't something behind it," Milly said, putting her hand to her chin.

Lelouch took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts, using the Third Eye that Igor had bestowed upon him. His perception narrowed, and the world around him appeared to darken, but after a moment he murmured, "I see something." Faintly gleaming in his mind's eye, there was a pathway beyond the barrier, spiraling further down into unseen depths.

"Queen, see if you can force your way through."

She nodded. "Suzuka Gozen!"

However, her attacks, whether physical or magical, had absolutely no effect on the barrier. None of the other Black Knights had any luck damaging it either.

"It's no good," Arthur said dejectedly.

Lelouch shook his head. "Giving up so easily? We've simply ruled out brute force as a way forward. Like the rest of Mementos, this barrier must be some sort of cognition. There must be some way to dispel or alter it."

"I agree," Milly said. "But it's getting late. We'll have a better chance of coming up with a plan once we've had time to rest."

"That sounds like a sound strategy, Diamond," Lelouch replied. "Let us withdraw for now."

Returning to the entrance of Mementos, Lelouch paused to visit the Velvet Room, updating the records of his Personas in the Compendium. But he couldn't help but think that Igor was watching him intently.

"Is there something on your mind, Trickster?" Igor finally spoke, an infuriating hint of smugness in his deep voice. "Perhaps you mean to ask me about the barrier in Mementos?"

"You know something of it?" Lelouch asked irritably.

"Of course, Trickster. As I said before, Mementos is the Palace of the masses. To descend deeper into Mementos is to penetrate further into their thoughts. Yet you and your fellow thieves are still virtually unknown to the public at large. Thus, you can only scratch the surface of their cognition."

"So what you're saying is that if the Black Knights want to explore Mementos further, we need to gain notoriety?"

"I am glad that you understand so quickly, Trickster."

Lelouch couldn't help but laugh.

"Something amuses you, Trickster?"

"We'll solve that problem and take down our next target in one fell swoop."

"You have an ambitious heist in mind then?" It was Igor's turn to chuckle. "I look forward to seeing how you will rise to the challenges it will surely put before you. I also see that your rehabilitation continues apace, and so I would like to reward you with a new power. You have probably noticed that a mere six Personas already feels limiting for someone of your potential."

Igor raised a hand, and suddenly, Lelouch felt new expanses open up within the sea of his soul.

"You should be able to hold up to eight Personas within you now," Igor said with his usual demented grin. "Should you continue to prove yourself capable, I can bestow further powers upon you."

On one hand, Lelouch knew that he should thank Igor. Any new power would advance his plans. But at the same time, he resented the way that the master of the Velvet Room seemed to be talking down to him, parceling out power as one might reward a dog.

"Excessive power only leads to destruction," Tsu said, as if reading his thoughts. But instead of sounding condescending, as Igor did, she sounded sad.

xXx

The next day at Ashford Academy began like any other for the Black Knights. They attended their classes, pretending to be normal students, and met to discuss Student Council business. Milly had pitched the idea of a school play, a medieval fantasy romance, to the other members of the Student Council, which was unanimously agreed upon. Of course, they all knew that Milly would use the opportunity to indulge in her love of designing ridiculous costumes, but when compared to some of her other zany ideas, it seemed harmless enough. Besides, it needed to pass in order to keep up appearances, so that they'd have an excuse for Nina to keep making "special effects" for them in the future. Of course, Shirley, Suzaku, and Rivalz were blissfully ignorant of this, and if Nina suspected anything, she was, at least for now, willing to remain silent in exchange for the materials they continued to bring her, fresh from Mementos.

But there was another thought lingering in the minds of the Black Knights: Jeremiah Gottwald. Based on what his Shadow had said, they all expected him to arrive at Ashford Academy, but when and how?

The Student Council adjourned its business and the day continued to pass uneventfully. But then, not long after he had returned to his living quarters at the Clubhouse for the night, he noticed something amiss. Sayoko had paused in her usual duties, suddenly tensing up as she happened to pass by a window.

"What is it, Sayoko?" He asked her.

"Wait right here, Master Lelouch," she told him. "I'll take care of this."

It seemed that she had scarcely spoken and then she was gone. Had Sayoko… leapt down from the balcony in a single bound, bypassing the grand central staircase, and landed flawlessly, all without breaking a sweat? Already, she was at the door.

His mind reeled, trying to process what he had just seen. He expected such seemingly superhuman feats from someone like Suzaku. His first true friend in Japan had always been something of an exercise nut, and more than once while playing in the woods around the Kururugi Shrine, Suzaku had performed stunts that should have been by all rights impossible for a child of his age. Lelouch knew it wasn't just his own perception as one who had lacked any sort of meaningful athletic ability until stepping into the Metaverse. Lieutenant Colonel Todoh, who had been Suzaku's instructor in swordsmanship and the only Japanese military officer to win a battle against Britannia's Knightmare Frames during the war, had himself noted Suzaku's physical talents while criticizing the boy's undisciplined nature… a far cry from the mild-mannered Honorary Britannian that Suzaku would become. But for his maid to do the same… what was she?

Pausing only briefly to nonchalantly brush herself off, Sayoko opened the door.

"Good evening," she said pleasantly to their visitor, bowing slightly, though Lelouch couldn't see who it was from his current vantage point. "How may I help you?"

"I'm looking for Lelouch," a familiar voice replied. "I was told I could find him here."

"What business do you have with my Master?" Outwardly, Sayoko remained perfectly composed, but Lelouch suddenly felt a cold wave of killing intent from her directed at the stranger.

"So you don't deny it! Lelouch vi Britannia is truly here?"

That was Jeremiah's voice!

Sayoko pounced, leaping high into the air. As the hem of her dress hiked up, Lelouch saw her reaching for something strapped to the top of her stockings…a concealed weapon? He had only a split second to react.

"Sayoko, stop!" He shouted, praying that he was not too late, rushing down the stairs as quickly as his legs would permit him.

Sayoko hesitated, and landed without striking a blow, but there was a pair of incriminating kunai in her hands.

"Stay back, Master Lelouch!" She called. "That's - !"

"Jeremiah Gottwald, at your service." Now that Lelouch could see the full scene before him, there was the Margrave and Purist leader. Jeremiah had changed from his uniform, but was still smartly dressed in a suit, and now he was bowing slightly, though his eyes remained trained on Sayoko, analyzing her with military precision. "Impressive. A ninja masquerading as a maid? I see my lord keeps unusual company."

"I prefer the term SP," she replied, still ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"Security Police? I see… charged with the protection of VIPs before the conquest of Area Eleven…" Jeremiah mused. "I should have known better than to underestimate an Elev-" He paused, correcting himself. "The Japanese, I mean."

"I was wondering when you would arrive, Margrave Jeremiah," Lelouch said, stepping out from behind Sayoko.

"You were expecting him, Master Lelouch?" she asked warily.

"Indeed, I was. Jeremiah here is an old acquaintance, back from the Aries Villa," he said smoothly, conveniently omitting the fact that he had all but completely forgotten about Jeremiah in the intervening years. Judging from Jeremiah's reaction, this was exactly what the former royal guard wanted to hear. "He pledged his loyalty to my mother, and has now come to offer his service to me in turn."

"So it was you who -" Jeremiah began.

Lelouch raised a hand. "We should head inside. Someone might come to see what all the commotion's about, and I don't want to disturb Nunnally. Sayoko, would you get something for our guest?"

She nodded, understanding that which was unsaid. "As you wish, Master Lelouch."

A few minutes later, they were seated in a side room of the Clubhouse.

"This tea is excellent…" Jeremiah said, deeply inhaling the aroma after a sip.

"I am glad that you find it satisfactory," Sayoko replied.

"But we mustn't forget why we're here," Jeremiah continued, turning to Lelouch. "How did you survive the war, Your Highness? And… are you really Zero? I received a calling card… and then I had the strangest dream… That was how I knew how to find you here. I should have expected that you would take refuge with the Ashford family... they were among your mother's closest allies after all... but I thought you were dead, and so I failed to look for you."

Lelouch glanced from Jeremiah, to Sayoko, and back again.

"Yes… I am Zero… the leader of the Black Knights," he turned back to Sayoko. "But it's clear that you've been keeping some secrets from me as well. I never imagined that the Ashford family had quite the retainer."

"I am the 37th successor to the Shinozaki School," Sayoko said modestly. "Once, the Ashford family helped me, and so I pledged to serve them. When you first arrived, Mistress Milly asked for me to be reassigned to you and Mistress Nunnally. Since then, it has been my pleasure to serve the two of you and watch you grow up. I couldn't help but notice how much more animated you seemed these last few weeks. I thought you must have met a secret lover, but now it is clear to me."

Lelouch stared at his maid, mortified. Where had that come from? What other strange ideas did she have about him?

"I may not understand how you changed your gym teacher's heart," Sayoko continued, "but Ashford has become a better place for it. You can trust that I will keep your secret safe, Master Lelouch, and support you in whatever ways I can."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Hierophant Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

"Your loyalty to your Master is most admirable," Jeremiah nodded. "I think we shall get along just fine." His attention returned to Lelouch. "But what exactly do you plan to do, my Highness? If you meant to return to the royal family, you would have surely done so of your own volition long ago."

"You served my mother. You know how she was killed. I'm certain that someone within the royal family had a hand in it, maybe even my father, the Emperor himself. Why else would he be so quick to cover it up and banish Nunnally and I after I dared to ask questions about I?"

"I was too willing to accept that terrorists had done it," Jeremiah said, his head hanging in shame. "But I must admit that at times I couldn't help but wonder the same."

"If Nunnally and I ever returned to the royal family now, we'd just be used as political pawns, as we were before," Lelouch continued, clenching a fist. "Not only that, you know how Britannia is all about 'survival of the fittest'." His expression turned to a scowl. "Blind and without the use of her legs, there would be nobles who would view her as a disgrace, and they wouldn't hesitate to bring harm to my little sister if it would cull a 'weakling' from the royal family."

"I agree, your Highness," Jeremiah nodded.

Normally, Lelouch would have pegged Jeremiah as a mere yes-man by this point, like any other sycophant who leeched off Brittania's already parasitic nobility. But he had seen Jeremiah's Shadow. The man was fanatically loyal to the late Empress Marianne and her offspring, to the point that it was the major force distorting his cognition. There was no chance that Jeremiah would betray him, and the Margrave had risked much by coming to see him, an exiled prince with no power base to speak of outside of the Student Council and the Metaverse. That alone spoke to Jeremiah's worth as a confidant. Sayoko's loyalty had never been in question from him either, and seemed stronger now that they both knew each other's hidden identities.

"The only way my sister will know happiness is if we tear down Britannia as it stands and build it anew. And when the Black Knights steal Prince Clovis' corrupted heart, our rebellion shall begin in earnest."

 **A/N:**

 **Normally, I'm not too fond of stories in which Lelouch allies with Jeremiah very early on, at least not without events that establish a sufficient divergence from canon in the backstory, as he shows little sign of recognizing Jeremiah in early episodes in the show, and it seems like too much of a contrivance in Lelouch's favor. Of course, this is because Jeremiah was originally supposed to be a minor character (and even killed off) before he became a surprise hit among fans and the show's staff, who spared him from an early demise and brought him back from what should have been his death (twice) to give him a much more developed character arc and sympathetic backstory. However, the Metaverse provided a plausible, and more importantly, a natural way for Lelouch to come into contact with Jeremiah in spite differences in this story's scenario and canon, and being able to see directly into Jeremiah's distorted cognition through his Shadow would immediately cause Lelouch to realize Jeremiah's value as an ally. After all, as soon as Lelouch realized Jeremiah's deep loyalty to his mother in canon, he spared Jeremiah's life and sought to recruit Jeremiah to his side.**

 **The dynamic between Jeremiah and Sayoko, the titular characters of this chapter, brought together in spite of their very different backgrounds by their devoted loyalty to Lelouch, paired with their idiosyncratic personalities, is much beloved by fans of Code Geass. I re-enacted their first meeting in part in this chapter, though the outcome played differently, thanks to Lelouch's intervention (very fortunate for Jeremiah, as without the "upgrades" he received in canon, Sayoko would have killed him for sure).**

 **The name of Jeremiah's custom Knightmare Frame in canon is "Siegfried", hence the name of his Shadow. And while Siegfried is traditionally associated with the Strength Arcana in modern Persona games, I believe the mythological Siegfried's themes are also suitable for the Hanged Man. It is also a happy coincidence that Siegfried, as it appears in Persona 5, is also weak to Nuke, allowing Jeremiah's original defeat in the show to be re-enacted in a sense.**

 **As for Sayoko, while the Heirophant is more commonly seen with male characters in the modern Persona series, at its core, it is about the theme of tradition, and as the successor to a distinguished school, Sayoko fits the Arcana nicely.**

 **In a major landmark for this story, it now has over 100 followers (103 at the time of this writing) and 95 favorites! Still wondering if it will ever spawn a TvTropes page though... maybe when I've got more of the story written.**

 **On an unrelated note, I am looking for a beta reader again. Please send me a PM if you would be interested, or if you would like to discuss/share ideas or theories on the stories and characters in more detail.**


	16. The Bishop and the Saint

"Clovis la Britannia… Government Bureau… Theater…."

Lelouch said the words as Arthur, Kallen, and Milly stood gathered around him, and was rewarded as the Metaverse Navigator hummed to life.

"Destination confirmed: Theater of Vanity. Beginning navigation."

With Jeremiah on their side, deducing the necessary keywords that would grant them access to Clovis' Palace had fallen into place relatively quickly. Lelouch had guessed that the location of Clovis' Palace would be the government bureau, and he had of course known of his half brother's love for the arts, but hearing that Clovis thought of himself as an actor was enough to eliminate all but a few keywords regarding the form of the Palace, of which 'Theater' was the most logical choice.

Of course, civilians couldn't just waltz up to the Government Bureau, not without passing several checkpoints, and Lelouch had generally avoided wandering too close to the place. It was unlikely that anyone, save Clovis, would recognize him, but it had always seemed a needless risk to take. Unfortunately, that meant the Black Knights had to begin their infiltration from beyond the security perimeter.

The world finished twisting around them, revealing Clovis' Palace in the distance. It was a stately yet somehow imposing edifice with a neoclassical facade and a rotunda dome rising behind it. Within lay Clovis' Treasure, the source of his distorted desires. The form it would take and its defenses were unknown, but when would that ever stop a determined phantom thief?

"Give me your best shot, Clovis," Zero smirked. "It will be a pity if you aren't more of a challenge after all of these years." He turned. "Is everyone ready to begin the infiltration?"

Tama, Queen, and Diamond nodded back at him, all clad in their Metaverse attire.

"Then let's go."

Slipping over a low outer wall, it quickly became apparent to the Black Knights that there was a large mass of Cognitions, all trying to press forward in a line, buzzing with excitement. Most of what they were saying could not be discerned, but Lelouch caught fragments of their conversations…

"The Director's latest masterpiece…"

"… they were moved to tears…".

"…. so talented…. even acts in his own plays…."

"… makes my heart throb…"

"…. about the Director's new starlet?"

"… forget about the world and enjoy the play…"

There was a gust of wind, and a large piece of paper came swirling their way through the air. With a deft motion, Kallen caught it before it could fly out of reach.

"Nice reflexes, Queen!" Milly beamed.

"That was nothing," Kallen said as she unfurled the paper. "It's a playbill of some kind," she said after a moment. "Take a look." She handed it to Milly.

THE PALACE THEATER PROUDLY PRESENTS

AN ENGAGEMENT OF BRITANNIA'S PRE-EMINENT ARTISTIC GENIUS

 **DIRECTOR CLOVIS LA BRITANNIA**

ACTING IN A DOUBLE FEATURE

 _THE ELEVENTH PRINCE_

Dedicated in loving memory of Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia

AND

 _THE MARRIAGE OF CLOVIS_

CO-STARRING IN HER DEBUT ROLE

THE ENCHANTING

 **LEILA BREISGAU**

FOR THREE WEEKS ONLY - RESERVE YOUR TICKETS NOW

"Well, I see he shares your flair for the dramatic, Zero," Milly said. "Oh… look… this play's about you and your sister."

"Let me see that, Diamond." Lelouch took the playbill from her. "Full of himself as ever," Lelouch frowned as he quickly scanned it with his eyes

"Ooh, did I touch a nerve?" Milly teased.

"Never mind that," Lelouch replied irritably. "Look here." He pointed to the name at the bottom of the playbill. "Didn't her parents die under suspicious circumstances not that long ago? Your grandfather even held that assembly because there were all of those rumors going around about their deaths."

"That's right!" Kallen chimed in.

"Now she's a Countess… and they say she's the Viceroy's new girlfriend," Milly murmured thoughtfully.

"Something doesn't add up here," Arthur said.

"I agree," Lelouch said. "The relationship has progressed much too quickly. And then there was what Coach Nu's Shadow said… She thought Clovis was using mental shutdowns to target his rivals."

"There's only one way to find out," Milly said.

"But first we need to find a way inside," Kallen pointed out.

"Leave that to me!" Arthur perked up. "Cats are hunters, so we have a great sense of smell. I sniff out an entrance for us in no time!"

Following his nose, Arthur darted ahead.

"Here we go!" Arthur said, leading them to the side of the building.

"An air vent?" Kallen asked, grimacing. "Isn't that cliche? And are we even going to fit? I know you can get through there easily Tama, but…"

"Of course it will work!" Arthur replied indignantly. "The public's cognition is that, despite all evidence to the contrary, air vents are big enough for humans to crawl through. It'll be a tight squeeze, but you'll be fine!"

"This is so cool!" Milly giggled. "I've always wanted to do this… just like a spy in the movies!"

"I think we're overlooking the obvious problem here," Lelouch said.

"What's that?" Milly asked.

"Didn't any of you pause to wonder why the grille was missing?" He pointed downward, where it lay to the side in the grass.

"Oh…"

"Someone else has already been here and removed it, and I doubt Clovis is accommodating enough to do it for us."

"Another phantom thief?" Milly asked.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Kallen said, glancing at Lelouch.

"We have to be ready for anything," he told them.

There was an awkward silence, but Milly finally broke it. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"You go through the vent first," Kallen told Lelouch.

"I thought you agreed that I was the leader here."

"You don't get it, do you, Zero?" Milly asked mischievously. "Queen doesn't want you to have a front-row view of that gorgeous butt of hers, so tight under that rubber suit!"

"W-what are you saying, D-D-Diamond, you p-pervert?!" Kallen sputtered, blushing so furiously that it could even be seen past the lotus petal mask that covered most of her face. Her ineffectual denial only made it clear that was exactly why she wanted him to go first.

Lelouch in turn felt his own cheeks warm slightly, though he forced himself to maintain his composure. Such a display would be unbecoming of Zero.

"Come on, Zero," Milly continued to tease. "Don't pretend you wouldn't enjoy the view. You can go after me, in the vent if you like," she said, bending over and batting her eyes.

Against his will, Lelouch's cheeks reddened further. Milly's thief outfit already left rather little to the imagination in that department…

"T-that's enough, you two!" Kallen managed.

"Aw, spoilsport," Milly frowned.

Lelouch ended up going through the air vent first after all, respecting Kallen's wishes. It was best to be a gentleman about it. The vent was cramped, but true to Arthur's prediction, it was still perfectly passable.

"We're in," Arthur murmured.

"Wow… talk about opulent…" Milly murmured. The Palace was sumptuously decorated, with tiled floors and plush red carpets, intricately patterned brocade curtains, crystal chandeliers, and gold leaf prodigally applied to the walls, so that they appeared to glitter. The shimmer of gold was interrupted every so often by a poster advertising the Director's plays, or displaying paintings that he had made while dabbling in other artistic pursuits.

"It just makes me sick," Kallen grumbled. "This is the Viceroy's cognition, while millions of Japanese live in poverty and squalor… not that I'm surprised."

They began sneaking through the Palace as quietly as they could. Unlike the knights of Viletta's Palace, the Shadows here appeared as security guards, ushers, and glamorous actresses wearing low-cut dresses, though their revealed skin seemed to be made of the same dark, ichorous substance that more powerful Shadows absorbed to fuel their transformations. Regardless of what form they took, all of the Shadows in Clovis' Palace wore masks, allowing Lelouch to perform the same trick he had learned back in Villetta's Palace when they had to fight.

"I'll reveal your true form!" he declared with a dramatic flourish as he ripped the mask off one of the actress Shadows' faces.

The Shadow burst, splitting in three and re-forming into a beautiful blue-skinned woman dressed in white with the poise of a dancer, and a pair of tiny red-skinned girls, also dressed in white, but in a Chinese style, with blonde twin tails and gossamer butterfly-like wings. Disoriented by their sudden transformation, the Shadows were vulnerable to attack.

"Persona!" Kallen called out, wasting no time. Suzuka Gozen materialized and cut through one of the red-skinned Shadows, causing the darkness that made up its body to disperse and vanish.

The other Shadows recovered from their surprise, and began to rise, but Lelouch didn't plan to give them the opportunity to do so.

"Jack Frost!" he called, pulling off his own mask.

"Mabufu, hee-ho!" The Persona chuckled merrily.

The temperature of the surrounding air suddenly dropped as ice crystals formed around both the fluttering butterfly-like girl and the blue-skinned dancer. The girl dropped to the floor, once again stunned and now shivering, but while the dancer winced at the ice closed in, the blue-skinned Shadow did not seem to be badly hurt.

"So it's also resistant to ice… just my luck."

The dancer clasped her hands and held them out in front of her, chanting the words of a spell. A magical barrier, white in color, appeared around its fallen ally.

"Diamond, stop it before it can put up any more barriers!" Lelouch ordered. After all, if that Shadow was resistant to ice, then maybe it was weak to fire…

"Got it, Zero! Come, Medea!"

The hooded witch appeared and held out a hand. A fireball appeared and struck the dancer Shadow, knocking it down.

"Your orders, Zero?" Kallen asked as the Black Knights closed in around the fallen Shadow.

"Keep them at gunpoint. I want to try talking to this one." If he could claim her protective powers as his own, he could keep his fellow Black Knights safe.

The dancer looked up at him warily as he approached. "Why don't you just leave me be?"

"I just couldn't," he told her.

"So what's going to happen to me now?"

"What do you want to happen?" he asked casually.

"You mean…" the dancer's cheeks flushed. "It's strange… I wonder if us speaking together like this means that we are somehow connected…"

"It's what we call destiny," he said with a self-assured grin.

The dancer breathed in suddenly. "I…." Suddenly, the aura around her changed from the dark miasma of a Shadow to the brilliant velvet blue of a Persona. "I… just remembered! I'm not a performer in Director Clovis' theater… I live in the sea of humanity's souls. Thank you for freeing me. My name is Apsaras. I'll be part of you from this day forward. Please take care of me."

With that, Apsaras turned into an orb of light, and was drawn into Lelouch's mask.

"You're so smooth, Zero!" Milly fawned. "But I wonder what poor Shirley would think if she knew that her beloved Lulu was flirting with Shadows in the Metaverse."

"I'm not a womanizer," Lelouch frowned. "Why does everyone seem to think that? Still, I can play the part if it helps us achieve our goals."

They continued to work their way through Clovis's Palace. It seemed apparent that the central auditorium would be a major objective of their infiltration, as whatever plays Clovis' psyche was putting on would be performed there, but they couldn't go in through the main entrance. The front lobby was filled with the same horde of Cognitions that they had seen from the outside, all waiting to see the shows, and the place was crawling with Shadows keeping the eager patrons in line. If they tried to access the auditorium that way, Clovis would be immediately alerted to their presence in his Palace, and though they might defeat a few Shadows, they would certainly be swamped by numbers.

Occasionally, they thought they caught glimpses of movement… a blur of red, or a sudden shadow cast from a gallery above, a faint tinkling sound in its wake. It darted from hiding spot to hiding spot so quickly that they might have been left wondering if they had really seen anything at all, or if they had just imagined it. But they knew better than that.

"Someone is definitely here," Arthur said, sniffing the air again. "Whoever it is, they've been watching us for some time after we entered the Palace, but they haven't chosen to show themselves yet."

"They haven't raised the alarm, so I think it's safe to assume that they're no friend of Clovis," Milly said hopefully.

"Don't assume that just because they're Clovis' foe that they're a friend of ours," Lelouch sternly corrected her. "Don't let your guard falter for a moment, Diamond."

A sense of unease settled upon the Black Knights. They continued their infiltration as planned, but they were ever wary of the unknown phantom thief stalking them through the Palace.

Perhaps they allowed themselves to be too fixated on what was above them, for before long, a security guard unexpectedly rounded a corner behind them.

"Look out!" a female voice said from above.

The Black Knights turned, in time to see a red streak, with a cascade of light gold following it, descend upon the Shadow.

"Show me who you really are!" she said, landing on the Shadow, and ripping off its mask. The Shadow screeched in surprise, before transforming into a demon with the body of a man, but the hooves, head, and tail of a horse. The Shadow's assailant wasted no time in grabbing and twisting its arm around, before pivoting and throwing it onto the ground, a feat made all the more impressive given the Shadow's superior mass.

"That's Aikido!" Kallen gasped. Clearly, in spite of her lithe frame, the newcomer was a skilled martial artist.

With the Shadow stunned on the ground before her, the Black Knights now had a better look at the thief who had been following them, and had presumably been the one to first break in through the air vent. She was about their age and wearing a red dress, cut below the shoulders and trimmed with gold at the top, with a pink sash around her waist, to which dangling coins were tied. They softly clinked together as she moved, easily in spite of the red high heels on her feet, which were decorated in front with green stones hanging from their upper edge. A thin blue ribbon sat at her bust line, subtly drawing attention to her considerable assets, while her wrists were adorned with golden bracelets, and a matching choker with teardrop-shaped amethysts dangling from it wrapped around her neck. Crescent-shaped earrings in the same style hung from each earlobe, and she was crowned by a circlet, with another amethyst suspended in the center, which connected on each side to an ornate golden hair clasps, which kept her hair styled into an elegant pair of egg-shaped buns. Overall, the outfit seemed very much what one might imagine that a Gypsy dancer might wear.

The Black Knights couldn't get a good look at the newcomer's face, as like Kallen's, most of it was covered by a mask. It was styled in the shape of a butterfly, its wings spread wide and extending beyond the edges of her face. There were a pair of holes in the wings for her eyes to peer through, amethyst like her jewelry, and a narrow band of skin from the ridge of her nose to her chin was exposed between the wings, but otherwise her features were completely hidden.

"Persona!" the newcomer called. Even as she pulled off her mask, the blue flames that surrounded her prevented the Black Knights from discerning her features clearly. Yet the Persona that formed was wraithlike, a shimmering semitransparent distortion in the air before her. It seemed to have the shape of a woman, roughly the same size as its summoner, but other than that it could not be clearly identified.

"Psi!"

Magenta, cyan, and yellow swirled in a mesmerizing psychedelic pattern around her foe. It did not seem to cause any real damage, but the fallen shadow recoiled as if it had been struck. A psychokinetic attack?

"It's not going to be down for long!" Kallen called. "Aikido is a defensive martial art - it incapacitates the opponent but avoids causing undue harm to the attacker. And flashy as that spell just was, it wasn't nearly enough to kill that Shadow!"

"Right! Master Cat!"

Arthur's Persona appeared and cast Garu, but the sudden gale only seemed to bother the Shadow slightly more than the newcomer's had.

"Wind is ineffective!"

"Berith!" Lelouch called. The demonic knight appeared and charged, striking the Shadow twice with its lance. It howled in pain and then sprung to its feet, casting its own Garu spell at Arthur.

"What an idiot…" Arthur smirked as Master Cat easily weathered the gale.

"Medea!" Flames erupted and struck the Shadow.

"It's weakening!"

"Finish it off, Suzuka Gozen!"

Kallen's Persona seized the Shadow in its clawed hand, and blasted its head with a lethal burst of radiation. After just a few seconds, the Shadow was no more.

"I must thank you for your assistance," the newcomer said, bowing slightly. "Your powers are every bit as impressive up close as from a distance."

"Well, you did keep that Shadow from sneaking up on us, so I guess that makes us even," Milly laughed good-naturedly.

"Who are you?" Lelouch said, folding his arms as his violet eyes bored into her own, searching for any hint of deception.

"I would ask you the same, but as I cannot answer your question, I will refrain in turn."

So she understood the importance of concealing one's identity… "Very well," he replied. "Let me ask a different question. What do you hope to achieve here?"

"The Viceroy is hiding something. I don't know exactly what, but he's willing to kill in order to protect it. He paints himself as a benevolent ruler, but he cares about now is his own glory. Be it a weapon or something worse, we can't trust Clovis with it. I'm here to find out what it is and steal or destroy it. No one around him will be safe for as long as he has it."

"And you thought to accomplish this on your own?" Lelouch pressed. "I don't mean to offend you, but your Persona isn't even fully manifested. How did you survive for so long?"

"I can sense Shadows approaching before they can see me, so I'm able to stay out of sight."

Had he heard that correctly?

"You mean… your Persona gives you precognitive or extrasensory abilities?"

She nodded. "They're limited, and I don't know exactly which, but yes." Her eyes became distant for a moment. "I've had this power since I was a young girl, but I never needed to use it until a few days ago."

That struck Lelouch as highly unusual, but as an accomplished liar himself, he could usually tell when other people were lying. She seemed utterly sincere.

"It appears then that our objectives are aligned," he told her after a minute. Her stated goals were more selfless than his own, but he could work with that. "We, the Black Knights, also seek to discover Clovis's secret, his Treasure and the source of his distorted desires at the core of this Palace. If you would lend us your talent, we could navigate through this Palace much more quickly, and in turn we will give you protection. What do you say?" He held out a hand to her.

She thought for a moment, and then took his hand with her own. "I humbly accept."

"Excellent. Now then, while I respect your desire to conceal your true identity, we'll need something to call you by. Do you have a preference?"

"A codename? I heard you use those while I was watching you," she said. "You're Zero, she's Queen, she's Diamond, and the cat is Tama."

"Excuse me? 'The cat?'" Arthur asked irritably.

"I'm sorry, I meant no offense," she said. "I love cats, actually. But as for myself… I have no preference. Whatever name works best for you is fine."

"Gypsy?" Milly suggested excitedly. "Or maybe Amethyst?"

Lelouch had a different idea. "How about Bishop?" While Kallen offered the unparalleled power of a Queen, earning her the spot of the King's right-hand woman, the codename Bishop carried a more mystical connotation, befitting the newcomer's gifts, and could advise the King from his left side.

The newcomer seemed to immediately grasp the symbolism. "Bishop? You play chess?"

He nodded. "I do."

"And you offer me one of the noble pieces so quickly." She shook her head. "I have no love for the nobility, but I appreciate the spirit with which the name was given." She smiled slightly. "Very well, I will be Bishop. The contrast between my attire and my codename will also serve as a fitting misdirection for our opponents. I'll do my best to guide you."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Priestess Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

With Bishop's supernatural insights, they indeed made rapid progress through the Palace, avoiding or ambushing Shadows with preternatural ease. As she had demonstrated earlier, she could put up a fight in a pinch, but her only partially formed Persona was not nearly as powerful or durable as those of the other Black Knights, and so she hung back when possible, focusing on providing support instead of being a combatant herself.

Eventually, they reached a large door, and Bishop raised a hand.

"I sense a powerful presence," she said. "This is the only way forward though, so you'll have to be prepared to fight."

"Thanks for the heads up, Bishop. Is everyone in good shape?"

"I'm fine, Zero," Kallen replied.

"I've got plenty left in me," Arthur nodded.

Milly finished sipping a coffee, made from the beans Rivalz had provided them with. "I'm refreshed and ready to go!"

"Then here goes nothing." Lelouch pushed open the door, and led the Black Knights into the next chamber.

Waiting within for them was none other than the Third Prince, Clovis la Britannia… or more accurately, his Shadow.

Shadow Clovis looked much as his real self did, dressed in his full finery as a Viceroy, but his costume seemed much more flamboyant and richly detailed than when he appeared for state broadcasts in the real world. To his usual ensemble, he had also added a flat, Renaissance-styled cap, with a large feather tucked in the side. His eyes were no longer blue, but like all Shadows, they were a supernatural gold.

But Shadow Clovis was not alone. He had a squad of security guards behind him… and a beautiful woman at his side, wearing a revealing light blue evening dress. It partly covered her breasts, enough to preserve her modesty, with V-shaped pieces of fabric, but from the waist up she was otherwise bare, save for the translucent fabric that wrapped around her lower back and was held up by thin diamond-studded straps, but that barely seemed to count. The dress itself fell to the floor and trailed behind her, but a slit was cut up its length to reveal her shapely legs. The woman herself had a cascade of light blonde hair, styled into a pair of egg-shaped buns on the sides of her head, and doe-like amethyst eyes.

Though her face was not concealed behind a mask, Lelouch knew at once that she was a cognitive doppelgänger of Bishop. The hairstyle alone was distinctive enough.

And who else would Clovis picture to be at his side but his supposed girlfriend?

In other words, Bishop was Leila Breisgau.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice patrols disappearing?" Shadow Clovis asked. He held a hand to his face. "Why is it only now, after years of tireless effort, that I have riffraff trying to ruin my crowning masterpiece? Look at you." He gestured at the Black Knights. "No sense of coordination between your costumes at all… on your own, I would applaud the effort, but as it is you're a set of walking fashion disasters."

"How petty do you get?" Kallen quietly seethed as she glared at the hated Viceroy.

"As much as I would enjoy singing some lively ballads with you, or a game of chess, I cannot take any chances at this late juncture, so I'm afraid that you'll have to die. What do you think of that, Leila?"

"You're as wise as ever, Director Clovis," Cognitive Leila simpered, adoration in her eyes. "Why worry about them, when you have me? I'd always be happy to sing or match wits with you… ever since you swept me away on the dance floor with your overflowing charm and grace."

"What did I tell you before, Leila?" Shadow Clovis said, gently putting a finger over Cognitive Leila's lips, making her positively giddy as her smile spread wider, barely able to contain her girlish laughter. "Just call me Clovis. You're still too formal at times. Though I'm delighted to see how much you've defrosted since we met. You were so stuffy at first - imagine reading a book at a party! You were missing out on so much! But look at you now!"

"I'm sorry, Clovis. I'm still not used to this yet," Cognitive Leila replied as Shadow Clovis withdrew his finger. "I was lost in grief over my parents' deaths, and then you came like my Prince Charming on a horse. Since then, it's been like a dream come true for me."

The real Leila at Lelouch's side, alias Bishop, didn't say a word, but she clenched her fists.

"It was as much love at first sight on my part as well," Shadow Clovis told Cognitive Leila. "I've always been an admirer of the female form, it's true. But unlike mere perverts who would degrade women," he said, his voice rising with a self-righteous fury, "abusing them, selling them into prostitution, or portraying them in base pornography, I have always had higher aspirations." He clutched his chest with one hand, while extending the other up into the air. "Artistic aspirations. There is something about a beautiful woman that stirs the very soul and can inspire us to be better than we are. One might say the same of other true art, but none quite as poignantly or as timelessly. When you came along… you were like a new Muse to me, enchanting me before I knew it as if by a spell. With you at my side, Leila, I can continue to create lasting works of beauty, transforming this world and becoming the greatest artist it has ever seen! That is my true passion."

"You're so poetic!" Cognitive Leila cried, hugging Clovis. "And that's so sweet of you! I'll gladly stay by your side, and help you see the world you wish to create come to fruition!"

Bishop stepped forward. "I don't care how high-minded you claim your ideals are. You killed my parents, and in less than three weeks from now you're going to be wiping out the Shinjuku Ghetto to build another monument to your vanity, Viceroy."

Kallen froze at those words. As for Shadow Clovis, he regarded Bishop curiously.

"You're not my Leila," he said. "You may sound like her, and you may even look like her under that garish costume, but she wouldn't say such hateful things to me."

"I said those things so that I could get close to you and find out how to enter this Palace, so I could find out what you killed my parents to protect and stop you from harming anyone else."

"No," Shadow Clovis said, his anger flaring. "You are not her! You're some witch who has taken Leila's shape!" He laughed, an off-kilter laugh as the facade of the kindly prince cracked. "But so what? You already know, don't you, my dear?"

"Mother and father were traitors," Cognitive Leila said, still smiling. "They'd been selling secrets to Europia for years. Then they started prying into your cognitive psience research."

"Yes! They could have ruined everything for us! That's why they had to die! I'm so glad you understand, Leila."

"I owe it all to your benevolence, Clovis," Cognitive Leila continued, beaming. "By making it look like they died in a car crash, you dispelled the cloud of suspicion that would have hung over my head, and let me inherit their titles. Instead of being the disgraced daughter of traitors, I'll rise to new heights with you as your Muse and royal princess! You'd be amazed how quickly that helps one get over their grief."

"Don't you see?" Bishop pressed. "That thing beside you is just a puppet that will agree with anything you say, because it's a part of you! Benevolence? Don't make me laugh. From the very beginning, all you've been concerned with is your own advancement!"

"That's not true!" Shadow Clovis raged. "Everything I've done is to create a fitting memorial for Lelouch and Nunnally! Yet some lack the vision to see the beauty of what I'm trying to create!"

"I never knew them, but I'm sure they'd be horrified by what you've become!"

"Silence! Guards! Kill the one who dares impersonate Leila first!"

The guards advanced, drawing their weapons.

The other Black Knights moved to protect her, but Leila stepped in front of them. "You've done enough. I've seen your strength, and I have faith that you can complete my mission in my stead. I'll buy you whatever time I can to escape this Palace."

"You can't just sacrifice yourself like that!" Lelouch objected.

"You're wasting time! This is something I have to do. As the weakest of us, it's the only way I can help anyone in this situation, and I owe it to my parents. I can't back down from facing him."

"That's not true!" Lelouch countered. "You'll just get yourself killed!"

"Indeed, the thought is absurd." Shadow Clovis smirked, raising a hand to halt the guards. "What can you possibly do to change the outcome of this little tragedy?"

"I-" Leila began.

"You are defenseless," Shadow Clovis sneered. "You may have some skills, to be sure, but you are far out of your depth. It will only take a moment for my men to cut you down, and then your pitiful friends will die. There's pathos in an act of self-sacrifice... But the thought that anything you do can make the slightest bit of a difference turns this play into a farce! Tell me... even if you could overthrow me, what would that accomplish?"

"What?" Leila asked.

"I would simply be replaced by a new Viceroy. Oh, they might lack my charm, but the Empire has no shortage of ruthlessness and ambition. One way or another, Shinjuku, and every ghetto surrounding the Tokyo Settlement will eventually be razed and redeveloped according to the designs of Britannia. There is no place for such ugliness in the world to come."

"You're talking about destroying people's lives like it's nothing!" Leila protested.

"They're just Elevens," Shadow Clovis replied simply.

"You don't even care about the lives of your Britannian citizens! I saw you at that party! You treated the news of those people being killed in that bombing like it was no more than a nuisance!"

"Tell me... does the dramatis personae in a play even give names to the extras? Of course not. They are simply nameless masses that exist only to set the stage for the glory of the real actors. Not everyone can achieve greatness. That's one of the pretty lies that Europia spreads, a lie that infected even my Leila's parents. Only those talent and strength deserve to rule, but democracy pretends that differences in skill and birth don't exist. Who is more suited to rule? One groomed over the course of his entire life for the task, with the best possible education and lineage behind him, or the demagogue, who appeals to the vulgarity of the masses, telling them that it is fine for them to wallow in their own mediocrity and ignorance, dragging everyone else down with them?"

"You speak of demagogues, but you lie to the public every day, and you spend more time on your art than you do actually governing! How is one such as you fit to rule, when you reign so far above the people that you no longer care about the suffering that they endure?"

Shadow Clovis laughed. "You speak as if you understand what the people want. Let's imagine for a moment that you really are my Leila, as you claim to be. You come from a pure Britannian bloodline, that for all of the self-righteous talk of your parents never once married outside of the nobility. You have never wanted for anything in your life in terms of material comforts, and had plenty of leisure time in which you could absorb such seditious ideas. Yet you presume to lecture me on behalf of the masses. Your words are no more than base hypocrisy."

"I-" Leila faltered.

"The truth is, I understand the people far more than you ever will. That's why they dance to my tune, enraptured by my performance. The people need to be led, and they will happily accept lies if it means that they can go about their lives without worrying about anything outside of them. Why do you think most of the politicians in Europia are aristocrats, and the same incumbents are elected time and again, a hereditary nobility like Britannia in all but name, in spite of the apparent contradiction between this and their self-professed egaltiarian principles? The people simply don't care enough to do anything but what they're told, whether by their rulers or the media... it is the freedom not to think for themselves. That is the so-called 'freedom' that my Leila's parents threw their lives away for." He laughed. "And that Europia can even claim to stand for freedom when it holds all of Africa as its colonial possessions is an utter farce. When it comes down to it, Europia is little different than Britannia."

"No... that can't be... I..." Leila struggled to find a rebuttal.

"So farewell, my would-be tragic heroine... your martyrdom will be swift, but sadly no one will remember you when this chapter of history is written. Be honored that I have personally ordered your execution. It is a far greater privilege than a witch like you deserves."

"Is that it?" Lelouch asked as the guards resumed their approach. "You're really going to let him win like that?

"I-"

"There may be a new Viceroy, even if Clovis falls. The people may be taken in by his lies. Europia may be just as corrupt as he says. But none of that will ever change unless you rise up against it! Whether you're a noble or not makes no difference! You're not alone in this! Stand up and fight with us, for we are the Black Knights!"

"Not a bad performance," Shadow Clovis said, appraising Lelouch. "You have some charisma as a performer, to be sure. But the conclusion of this story has already been written."

"Not yet..." Leila murmured.

"What was that, witch?"

"You're wrong," she said, gathering her resolve. "I will make a difference. I may be weak, but I'll give everything I have if that's what it takes to stop you!"

Suddenly, the air around Leila pulsed like a thunderclap, and she fell to her knees, clutching her head.

"The sentiment is noble, but it's too soon to go martyring yourself," a soothing female voice whispered. "You stand falsely accused of being a witch, as was I. Will you tolerate this injustice?"

"No," Leila whispered, her amethyst eyes momentarily turning gold.

"Then rise up and fully awaken to your true power, dormant within you for too long. Make this prayer: I am thou, and thou art I. Become the maiden of revolution that you were destined to be! Strike back for freedom and your new friends!"

"What are you standing around gaping at her for?" Shadow Clovis panicked. "Kill her already!"

"Arrghhh!" Leila ripped off her mask. At once, a rush of wind swirled around her, throwing back the security guards. In another moment, blue flames danced around her, and her Persona reappeared, shackled to her. But now the Black Knights could clearly see that Leila's Persona was a female knight with long, blonde hair, holding a battle standard emblazoned with the fleur-di-lis.

"Hear me, Jeanne d'Arc!" Leila shouted, her Persona imitating her movements as she thrust her arm forward, as if to signal a charge.

"Leila, we must withdraw," Shadow Clovis said, leading the Cognition by the hand. "Captain, cover our retreat! Leave none of these thieves alive!"

"With pleasure, Director Clovis."

Clovis' captain transformed, turning into a pale, muscular man emerging from a rock glowing with emblems of the Zodiac. He had long golden-blonde hair, a warrior's helm, and held a vicious-looking sacrificial knife.

"I am the Dark Sun. Your blood will serve for the Director to cover a canvas with. Thus in death, you will become beautiful!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Kallen and Milly said in unison. Medea took to the air, and launched a volley of fireballs down on the Captain. But not only did they have no effect, the Captain seemed to be absorbing their energy.

"Crap, fire just makes him stronger!"

Suzuka Gozen reached the Captain a moment later, grabbing his helmet and unleashing nuclear fury. But the Captain shrugged off the attack like it was nothing and proceeded to slash across Suzuka Gozen's chest.

"Ugh!" Kallen cried, doubling over as a thin line cut itself across her chest, mirroring the wound Suzuka Gozen had taken. Blood oozed from it, and if not treated quickly it could prove fatal.

"Tama, Queen needs your help!" Lelouch shouted urgently.

"Right! Master Cat!"

Healing energy converged on Kallen, stanching the wound.

"Thanks, Tama," she breathed heavily. She still wasn't in the best shape, but at least she was out of immediate danger. I'll be more careful. That guy packs a punch!"

"Die in the sun's fury! Mafrei!"

With a sweep of his knife, the Captain launched multiple blue bolts of radiation at the Black Knights. They struck their marks. Kallen's Persona was resistant to nuclear attacks, but damaged as she already was, she dropped to her knees with the rest of her teammates, gasping for breath.

"Everyone's health is way too low!" Arthur moaned.

"This isn't some video game, Tama!" Milly shouted back.

"You bastard…" Lelouch snarled at the Captain. "It can't end like this!"

"Help us, Jeanne d'Arc!" Leila prayed, ripping off her mask with a last effort. "Media!"

The female knight appeared and raised her battle standard high.

Healing energy gently rained upon the Black Knights, radiation burns fading as if they had never been there.

"Whoa!" Arthur exclaimed. "Her spells can heal all of us at once?!"

"No fair! That's in another league than what Medea can do!" Milly complained.

"Well, Jeanne d'Arc was made a Saint," Lelouch murmured. "Nicely, done Bishop!" he called a moment later. "Okay everyone! Spread out and probe for a weak spot! Be ready to heal at a moment's notice!"

"You got it, Zero!"

With that, he summoned one of his own Personas. "Genbu!" At each step leading to Genbu's birth, since the demise of Bicorn and then Silky, he had, with Shi and Tsu's guidance, made sure that a certain spell was passed along through the fusion process, and if there was ever a time to use it, it was now.

"Tarunda!"

Most fights were over too quickly for Tarunda to make much of a difference, but now it could determine if the Black Knights lived or died. Red energy closed around the Captain, sapping its strength. Its knife seemed a bit duller and slower, and its Frei spells lost some of their potency. That meant less time had to be spent healing, and more time could be spent wearing the Captain down. The Black Knights could only hold out for so long before their mental energies, necessary for summoning their Personas, were depleted. The quicker they could end the fight, the better, so Lelouch followed up with a casting of Rakunda, softening the Captain up. It still stood stalwartly against most of what they were throwing at it, but at least Arthur's wind spells seemed to have some efficacy, allowing them to chip away at the enemy's vitality. In an unusual change to their usual battle strategy, Kallen was hanging back now, buffing his power with Tarukaja. Discovering that the Captain was resistant to physical attacks in addition to being immune to nuclear spells had rendered most of her own offense ineffective, so Lelouch had redirected her efforts to support.

Until this point in the fight, Leila had also been playing a support role. After rejuvenating the Black Knights with Media, she had begun casting Rakukaja on each of her allies in turn, bolstering their defenses so that, in combination with Lelouch's Tarukaja, the threat that the Captain posed to them decreased greatly. However, satisfied that her allies were in good condition and well-protected, she now turned her attention to offense.

"Jeanne d'Arc! Psi!"

There was the psychedelic swirl of colors again, but this time Leila had a fully formed Persona, and the results were telling. The Captain grabbed his helmet and tumbled to the ground, screeching in agony. "Get out of my head, witch!"

"Now is our time to strike!" Lelouch called. "Commence an all-out attack!"

In the ensuing ball of violence, no one could be quite sure who landed the finishing blow, but a jet of blood burst from the Captain before he exploded into motes of darkness.

With that, Leila fell to her knees once more, exhausted.

"Is it over?" she asked.

"You did well, Bishop," Lelouch told her.

"To think you were Leila this whole time though," Milly said. "I should have recognized you from the news."

"Some rebel group we are", Kallen said, shaking her head. "Two nobles, two ex-nobles, one of whom is an ex-prince, and a cat. And only I'm at all Japanese. What's next, a Britannian princess to round things out?"

"Clovis certainly seems intent on making me a princess," Leila frowned. "But you said one of you is an ex-prince. That would have to be Zero…"

Kallen cursed at her slip of the tongue.

"Since we now know your name, it's only fair that you know mine," Lelouch said after a moment. "I am Lelouch vi Britannia, formerly the Eleventh Prince of Britannia. But these days, I go by Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Clovis is always speaking about you. Did you see what was playing in this Theater? It even shows here, in his cognition. But he said that you died."

"As the saying goes, rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. And I intend to keep it that way."

"But never mind that," Kallen cut in. "You said Clovis plans to destroy Shinjuku?"

Leila nodded. "The demolition, which he'll call an urban renewal, is planned to start in eighteen days from now."

"My friends are in Shinjuku! Not to mention thousands of innocent Japanese who don't have anything to do with the Resistance. They're just trying to survive." She clenched a fist. "We can't let him get away with this!"

"The Viceroy has also asked me to be there when they break ground for his new construction project in Shinjuku," Leila continued. "If his second play is any indication, he's going to ask me to marry him then."

"And if what his Shadow said is any indication, Clovis is definitely behind the killing of the late Lord and Lady von Breisgau," Milly frowned. "Are the rumors true… did they really die of… no… even I shouldn't ask that."

"It's okay," Leila said, grimacing at the memory. "Yes, the rumors are true. My parents really did die of mental shutdowns. But don't ask me to recount any other details about it." She shook her head. "It's just too horrible…"

"Don't worry," Lelouch said. "We'll avenge them… and all of the other people my half brother has killed."

"Killing Clovis won't heal any of the wounds he's left behind," Leila said. "I just don't want him to hurt anyone else."

"That may be so," Lelouch said. "Once I would have just killed him myself for his crimes. But if you think about it, when we steal his heart, we'll inflict what must be a fate worse than death upon Clovis. He'll have to live with the weight of all of his crimes and humble himself before the nation." Lelouch laughed.

"Steal his heart?" Leila asked.

"That's right…" Lelouch said. "You wouldn't know… It's a long story, and we shouldn't linger here too long, lest the Shadows return. We're all pretty tired after that last fight. Can you get away from the Viceroy and meet us at the Omotesandō Mall tomorrow after school?"

"I can do that," she nodded.

"Very well. I'll hold you to that, Bishop."

 **Days until Shinjuku is Demolished: 17**

 **A/N: I had lots of inspiration for this chapter, so I was able to roll it out right after the last one.**

 **To the reader familiar with the Persona 5 side of the crossover, Clovis' Palace is in many ways similar to Madarame's in its aesthetic and its Deadly Sin. However, I have started to more obviously mix up some of the Shadows. Orobas, the horse demon, originally appeared in the 3rd Palace in P5, but I figured it fit here with the theme of divination and secret knowledge, loosely paralleling Clovis' own illicit research. Mithras originally appears in the 5th Palace of P5, but I wanted a mid-boss that would allow Leila to shine, and Mithras is weak to** **Psy, while nullifying or absorbing the main attacks of both Kallen and Milly, so I figured he would be a suitable challenge for the Black Knights.**

 **Leila's element is Psy as a loose reference to her canonical Geass power in Akito the Exiled. She also received this power at a young age, but let it reside dormant within her for years, so I mirrored that plot point for her Persona ability too. Narratively, she inherits parts of Ann Takamaki's role in this story, in having to deal with the unwanted attention of an older and more powerful man, but ability-wise she gets the more tactical aspects of Makoto Nijiima (reflecting Leila's own nature as a tactician in canon), as well as her healing and defensive skills while Kallen gets Makoto's Nuclear skills.**

 **Some may be wondering how Jeanne d'Arc matches the thief theme for the initial Personas of the other characters. My response is thus: Jeanne d'Arc was a heroine who inspired an entire nation, leading it to free itself from British rule, and captured imaginations for centuries after her death... truly a thief of hearts. And of course, Leila gets called "The Maid of Orleans" in Akito the Exiled, in clear reference to the historical Jeanne.**

 **As for Jeanne d'Arc's elemental weakness... I think that should be obvious to anyone who knows anything about her historical counterpart's demise...**

 **Leila's thief outfit is the same as the one she wears in Akito the Exiled, with the addition of the butterfly mask. I could elaborate upon how I think the symbolism of the outfit suits her idea of rebellion, but I'll let you guys speculate on that instead. Following one review, I will note however that thief outfits are based on cognition, not necessarily what is practical!**

 **The healing spell Leila uses near the end of the chapter follows the naming convention in Persona games of "Me/Ma" (targets all) + "** **Dia" (healing), which makes it come out the same as the English word "media". Sorry if this caused any confusion to people who are more familiar with the Code Geass side of things than Persona.**

 **As one last note, I originally intended "Bishop" to be a codename for a different thief. But after thinking about the symbolism of the chess piece and Leila's skills and arcana, I decided it fit better for her.**

 **Edit: Significantly extended Leila's awakening, as I wasn't happy with the buildup originally leading to it.**


	17. Rendezvous in Shinjuku

Lelouch, Kallen, Milly, and Arthur waited patiently at Omotesandō Mall for their new ally to arrive. Even as they pretended to be ordinary teenagers out shopping (and their pet in the case of Arthur), they passed the time performing tasks for the Black Knights. Lelouch took the opportunity to surreptitiously pawn off the valuables they had taken from Clovis' Palace. Kallen left and returned with a bag that doubtlessly contained more ammunition underneath her ostensible purchases. Unlike Lelouch and Kallen, Milly's task, buying medical supplies, was not illegal in of itself, but it was still for the benefit of an outlaw organization. As a cat, Arthur couldn't buy or sell things for the Black Knights himself, but he instead maintained a lookout for them.

They regrouped at a table amid the food court's outside seating, engaging in chitchat as they ate some fast food, but they remained ever watchful of their surroundings, looking for any sign of Leila… or those who might listen too closely to their conversation.

Eventually, the young countess arrived. It was clear that Leila had taken pains not to be recognized in public, which was natural given all of the media attention surrounding her supposed relationship with the Viceroy. She had undone her trademark egg-like buns, drawing up and rearranging her flowing light blonde hair into a thick pair of twin tails instead. She also wore a dark pair of sunglasses, concealing her amethyst eyes. It would be enough to throw off casual observers, but Lelouch saw through the disguise easily, in part because he was expecting her, and because there wasn't anyone else he knew personally with such voluminous blonde hair in that particular shade.

As for her attire, Leila was dressed in her school uniform, as were the other Black Knights, but instead of the creamy yellow jacket with black cuffs that Kallen and Milly wore as part of Ashford Academy's uniform for female students, Leila had a dark blue blazer with red cuffs. Otherwise, her uniform was quite similar to those of his classmates, with a short black skirt, loafers, and long socks, cutting off above the knee like Kallen's, whereas Milly's fell below.

"I hope I didn't keep you waiting for too long," Leila said, taking a seat.

"It's not a problem," Lelouch replied. "I'm glad you could make it."

"I haven't seen that uniform before," Milly said. "What school do you go to?"

"St. Lucy's," Leila replied. "It's a girls' school."

"Ooh," Milly started to say, but Lelouch cut her off before she could sidetrack the conversation.

"You must still be tired from yesterday," he said to Leila.

She nodded. " A bit."

"It seems that awakening to one's Persona always takes a lot out of you," he said quietly. Kallen and Milly nodded. "Now that we're all here, let's take this somewhere else."

He led the Black Knights to the train station, and a quick use of the Metaverse Navigator whisked them away into Mementos, away from any prying eyes or ears.

"What is this place?" Leila asked, now dressed in her thief costume, as were the other Black Knights.

"It's called Mementos," Arthur replied. "It's another Palace, only for the general public. We should be safe as long as we stay near the entrance. The Shadows never come up here."

She nodded.

"Now, you said that you first awakened to your power when you were young?" Lelouch asked.

Leila nodded again. "I did. It came to me in a dream… I can't remember most of it… but I saw butterflies, and heard a woman's voice…" She shook her head. "I didn't know the name of my Persona, and never needed to call upon her, but Jeanne d'Arc was there within me for so many years, until I had almost forgotten about her. Yet she was like a guardian angel to me, unconsciously protecting me from harm. It was only recently that I began to dream of butterflies again… And then that strange app appeared on my phone, right around the time that my parents were investigating the Viceroy's cognitive psience research. Or, I should say, reappeared... I'd gotten rid of it many times before, but it always seemed to keep coming back no matter what I did. But this time, I decided to use it."

Butterflies… Lelouch recalled seeing such imagery too, and he had also heard a woman's voice before forging his pact with Arsene. Neither Kallen nor Milly had reported such for themselves, so Leila's awakening was more similar to his own in that regard, but there were still questions that remained unanswered. Then again, given that he wasn't being completely honest with his teammates about the nature of his own powers, could they also be concealing aspects of theirs?

"You mentioned your parents were looking into cognitive science," Kallen spoke up. "Why's it so important to the Viceroy?"

"Cognitive psience," Leila corrected gently. "Psi, as in the Greek letter, or psionics. You might think of it as parapsychology, but they started calling it cognitive psience to differentiate it from what had come before," she whispered. "While parapsychology grasped at fragments of the truth, its approach was largely unscientific, mere speculation without any real evidence to back it up. That changed when Clovis' scientists discovered evidence of the cognitive world."

"By which you mean the Metaverse," Kallen interjected.

"Yes. As I was saying," Leila continued, "the cognitive world, or Metaverse, made studying a range of paranormal phenomena possible. For the first time, their predictions could be properly quantified and experimentally verified."

"Do you know when my half brother started displaying an interest in the occult?" Lelouch asked. "He was always interested in the arts, even when we were children, but this is a new development for him."

"No," Leila replied, shaking her head. "Though if it's unfamiliar to you, it must have started after you came to Japan. My parents didn't learn much beyond the existence of the Viceroy's research program and the object of its study… though you wouldn't believe how much he's poured into it over the years, even as he continues to pursue his construction projects. A little bit here, and a little bit there… but it all adds up. I'm surprised someone else didn't discover it sooner."

Kallen clenched a fist. "People starving in the ghettos while the Viceroy builds amusement parks is bad enough… and he keeps razing them to build more projects, making countless Japanese homeless in the process. Yet the Britannian public doesn't care at all! But I bet they would if he knew he was spending their tax money on a secret project. Even others in the Royal Family might take notice if he's embezzling funds that they think should be going into Britannia's coffers," she spat.

"Of course, most nobles will cheat where they can, if they think they can get away with it," Lelouch murmured. "They're parasites by nature." Milly, Kallen, and Leila nodded in agreement. "Britannian society is corrupt from the top down. You might even say that it is even encouraged to an extent under the Empire's philosophy of Social Darwinism. Playing by the rules is for the weak, as long as you're strong enough to avoid any real consequences for it, or can at least hide your duplicity from those who can punish you. Pair that with a rigid class system, and cheating becomes one of the few ways to move up if you're dissatisfied with your position. We saw that with Coach Nu, when she had to resort to framing Suzaku, and I wouldn't be surprised if many other royals are secretly skimming tax revenue to fund their own pet projects."

"How can Clovis be dissatisfied with his position?" Kallen fumed. "He's a prince, rules over an entire nation, and clearly has enough wealth and free time to pursue his precious hobbies at his leisure."

"You didn't grow up in the Royal Family," Lelouch told her. "Save for a few members from branches of the family that have allied with your own, everyone's scheming against each other, ruthlessly pursuing their own advancement…. All encouraged by the Emperor, of course. The li Britannias, and Clovis' family, the la Britannias, were the closest royal allies that the vi Britannias had at the Imperial Court at Pendragon. They actually cared when we were exiled, and saw Nunnally and myself off. "Marrybell was there too… she wasn't quite as close to us as I was to Clovis, Euphemia, and Cornelia, but she still showed up for us. Then there was Carine… but she never liked Nunnally…. I think she was just sad she couldn't push my sister around anymore. And Schniezel… he was the one among us who was the most loved and feared of the Emperor's heirs. Even back then, I saw him more as a rival… But the others… they couldn't care less if we were gone, or welcomed our exile… They would say good riddance to the children of the commoner Empress…. Even if I was to meet those who had been my allies back in Pendragon today, it would be a mistake to assume that they're still our friends. Britannia doesn't work that way. Clovis is living proof of that."

"If Clovis' research into the Metaverse comes to fruition, he could gain unparalleled power over his siblings, possibly enough to dominate Britannia and reshape it according to his own desires," Leila murmured. "He's already using it to murder his enemies in Area 11 with mental shutdowns. And that brings us to what I wanted to talk about. You said we could stop him if we 'steal his heart'? How does that work?"

"When a person's desires are highly distorted, it gives rise to a Palace," Arthur explained. "At the core of that Palace lies the Treasure, an embodiment of those distorted desires. If that Treasure is removed, then the person will lose those desires, and their personality would change accordingly."

"That's why you said he would be crushed by guilt," Leila said, turning to Lelouch. "Because he would no longer desire those terrible things, but he would still remember doing them."

"I'm glad you understand."

"I will admit, the idea of doing that to someone else is not something that I entirely agree with," she said quietly. "But if it will put a stop to the Viceroy's crimes without further bloodshed, I can see no better alternative." She looked up, her eyes momentarily hopeful. "Might he go back to being the kinder half-brother you once knew, who was your friend back in Pendragon?"

Lelouch looked at her incredulously. He knew that she didn't want to kill anyone, but hoping for reconciliation between him and the one who had ordered her parents' deaths? She really was far too kind for her own good. The world was not kind in turn to idealists.

"He might…," he admitted after a moment. "But some things can't be forgiven. No matter how much we may wish it, we simply can't turn back time like that."

"Ummm… okay!" Milly said. "On that cheerful note… GUTS!"

Leila looked utterly confused.

"Don't mind her," Lelouch told her. "It's just a 'magic spell' that Madam President uses to get everyone fired up."

"I see…"

"There's one other thing," Kallen said. "I've already alerted my friends in Shinjuku about the Viceroy's plans, so they'll be able to organize some resistance if it comes to that, and hopefully evacuate some of the civilian population. But I'd like you to see Shinjuku, so you know exactly what we're fighting to protect."

Lelouch nodded.

"I've averted my eyes for too long," Milly said. "Count me in."

"I admit that my own upbringing has been rather sheltered. Count me in as well," Leila added.

"I'm already familiar with Shinjuku, but no sense in splitting up," Arthur added. "I'll accompany you there."

They left Mementos and returned to the real world, heading out to the border of the Tokyo Settlement. Soon, they had left behind the shining Britannian city and arrived at the outskirts of the Shinjuku Ghetto. Decrepit office buildings and bombed-out skyscrapers stretched across the landscape, and, if the rumors were true, the remnants of a long-abandoned red light district lay among them. According to Kallen, in spite of the squalid conditions, thousands of Japanese still lived here. Mostly they were those who had refused to become Honorary Britannians, the unemployed or those who could not afford housing in the Settlement, and the elderly. The utilities were unreliable, with the ghetto experiencing frequent brownouts, as much of the necessary infrastructure had been damaged during the war, and the Britannians couldn't be bothered to spend much on those who they considered little more than squatters in their own homes,

"Stay close to me," Kallen cautioned. "A lot of people here don't take kindly to Britannians who come wandering in. Most who do are up to no good, gawking at the 'Elevens' like they're animals in a zoo, or coming to play some sort of prank or on a dare, so you can't exactly blame them."

Indeed, the air seemed to be filled with a mix of unease and hostility as they entered the ghetto. The streets were largely empty, but they had the sense that there were many sets of eyes anxiously watching them as they made their way through the streets. They passed a number of street vendors, operating stalls that seemed as ramshackle as the buildings surrounding them, all of which appeared to be in varying states of disrepair. A few vendors tried to call over to them, hoping to make a much-needed sale to a clearly affluent group of Britannians, but most just eyed them warily in silence, not wanting to make the first move.

"This is awful…" Milly murmured.

"Tell me about it," Arthur said. "I used to hunt and scavenge here, but the pickings were pretty slim. Even the rats were pretty scrawny."

Leila looked down at him curiously.

"Yes, I can talk in the real world too now," Arthur shrugged. "But unless someone's heard me in the Metaverse before, it just sounds like purring."

Without warning, a ball bounced around a corner. A small girl came bounding after it and bent down to retrieve it, but as she started to rise she noticed them and froze like a deer in the headlights.

"It's okay…" Leila said. "We aren't going to hurt you."

The girl let out a small cry, and quickly scurried off.

"There are children here too…" Milly frowned.

"What did you expect?" Kallen asked. "People raise their families in the ghettos, because they have nowhere else to go. It's not much, but it's still their home, and they'll cling to whatever they have left."

"Hey, what's the big idea?" a loud voice said in accented Britannian. A Japanese man with scruffy brown hair, an purple jacket that looked as if had seen better days, and a red headband appeared, shaking a fist at them. "What do you think you dumb Brits are doing, waltzing in like here like you own the place?" His voice was slightly slurred, as if he had recently had a bit too much to drink. "I'll show you!'

"Tamaki!" A black-haired man and a blue-haired woman rushed after him. They were both Japanese, and they also wore red headbands like the first man, evidently named Tamaki, did.

"What are you doing?" Tamaki shouted. "I don't need your help to scare off some Brits!"

"Oh, Tamaki, you never change," Arthur sighed.

The man restrained him. "Think before you act, Tamaki!"

"You'll have to excuse our companion," the woman said with a gentle voice. "But this isn't a safe place for Britannians. You should return to your nice, clean homes."

"I appreciate the advice, Inoue," Kallen said, switching to Japanese as she stepped forward. "I was about to lead them back myself. And thank you, Nagata. I was afraid Tamaki was about to do something stupid."

"Kallen? What are you doing, bringing Brits here, let alone introducing us to them?" Tamaki spluttered.

"Are these your classmates, Kallen?" Inoue asked calmly, though she still seemed to be eyeing them warily. "It's good to see that you're making friends at school. It's what your brother would have wanted. But you know they shouldn't be here."

"It's okay," Kallen said. "They're the ones I spoke about earlier. We can trust them. Besides, they know what will happen if they talk," she said as she casually moved her fingers across her neck.

Lelouch nodded. The threat hardly seemed necessary at this point, but she understood Kallen was making it both for the benefit of her friends in the resistance, and to Leila, the newest member of the Black Knights.

"I know you spoke to Oghi about it," Nagata frowned. "But you've been getting more distant lately. You used to come here all the time, but now we rarely see you. Come to think of it, we didn't see much of Naoto either, before he…". His voice trailed off.

"We're worried about you, Kallen," Inoue said, filling the awkward silence.

"Besides, you're the - hic! Best pilot we have," Tamaki said drunkenly. "Besides me, of course."

"Quiet, Tamaki," Nagata warned.

"You're carrying on your brother's mission, aren't you?" Inoue asked. "I wish you could tell us what exactly you were trying to do. We'd be only too happy to help you."

Kallen hung her head. "I can't. Even if I could explain it, you and the others wouldn't be able to help, and you would only be in more danger. This is something I have to do… or else my brother will never be able to rest in peace."

"We can't help but they can, Kallen? Are you saying we're not good enough for you?" Tamaki said, continuing to run his mouth. "And who's this guy?" he jeered, glaring at Lelouch. "Don't tell me this Brit is your boyfriend!"

"That's not true at all!" Kallen replied heatedly, tears starting to flow from her eyes, even as her cheeks flushed red.

Lelouch stepped forward, meeting Tamaki's gaze. "Who are you to say such things about her?"

"Well… I…" Tamaki started, an idiotic look on his face. "I was her brother's best buddy! Next to Oghi, that is…. Kallen's like a little sister to me! I have to look out for her!"

"What I heard was you being as bigoted as any Britannian. Kallen is half Britannian, and she looks like a Britannian, yet she considers herself Japanese, and you accepted her as such. Isn't that proof enough that there's more to things than shallow appearances?"

"Shit! She told you that much? You speak well, but don't think that gives you the right to look down upon us, Brit!"

"I'm sorry for my friend's rudeness," Inoue said, frowning . "As you can see, he's clearly inebriated. We had best bring him home before he makes even more of a fool of himself."

"We all looked up to your brother," Nagata told Kallen as they prepared to go. "I won't pretend that I like this, but if he thought that whatever you're working on was important enough for him to give his life for, and if you're carrying on that wish, I will do my best to respect it. But I hope you know what you're doing, bringing them into it," he said, eyeing Lelouch and the other Britannians. "Be careful, Kallen. We can't afford to lose you too."

"I will," she replied firmly, regaining her composure.

"Long live Japan!" he saluted.

"Long live Japan!" Kallen returned, filled with conviction.

"That's the Kallen we all know," Nagata smiled.

"Take care! If you need anything, you know where to find us, Kallen!" Inoue called.

"Tamaki's usually not that boorish," Kallen said quietly as they walked out of Shinjuku. "He can be an idiot, but he pitches in like anyone else, and I can't fault him for his tenacity in a fight… though it might be better described as recklessness."

"They're like family to you, aren't they?" Milly asked.

"After Naoto died, they were pretty much all I had left… I can't say I'm on good terms with the rest of my family. I'm not about to let some stuck-up prince take them away from me."

"I agree. He has hurt too many people already," Leila nodded.

"None of us is strong enough to defeat Britannia alone," Lelouch said, "and toppling Clovis will be just the first step. But together, we will change the world."

"Hey, don't forget me!" Arthur complained.

"Of course not. Where would we be if you hadn't guided Kallen into the Metaverse?"

"You held your own pretty well against that Shadow the other day too," Leila said, bending down to pet Arthur behind the ears.

"T-that tickles!"

It was a curious feeling, this ever growing sense of camaraderie between himself and the other Black Knights. It was not an unpleasant one. As much as he had grown up to be distrustful of others back in Pendragon, now he could confide in and rely upon his partners in crime. After visiting Shinjuku, their shared resolve to bring Clovis to justice had strengthened, and Lelouch felt that strength flowing in turn into the sea of his soul. Nowhere was this more evident than his bond with Kallen, the Chariot. By bringing them to Shinjuku and introducing them to some of the members of her local Resistance cell, it demonstrated a heightened level of trust from her, imbuing the Chariot with new power.

After agreeing to infiltrate Clovis' Palace again on the following day, they parted ways upon re-entering the Tokyo Settlement. Lelouch soon found his way back to the Ashford Academy Clubhouse, where he was greeted by Sayoko.

"Welcome back, Master Lelouch," she said with a bow. "I assume you were out on another daring escapade?"

That sounded like a double entendre, but he ignored it. "Nothing so dramatic today," he told her. "Just making preparations for tomorrow."

"A heist?" Sayoko asked. "The calling card you left for your teacher the last time said something about 'stealing her heart', and the calling cards you left for the members of the SSDF bore similar language about 'stealing their desires'. I know you're quite the charmer, Master Lelouch, but you really are stealing something from them, aren't you?"

Her mind really was as filthy as Milly's at times, wasn't it? No wonder Nunnally got such strange ideas at times. He had both Milly and Sayoko to contend with there. Still, Sayoko's help was invaluable for taking care of Nunnally, so it wasn't to be spurned easily.

"You might say that," Lelouch replied. "We take their Treasures, that which they value above all else."

"If it would be helpful, Master Lelouch, I could give you instruction on the finer points of infiltration. While my primary role as an SP was to ensure the protection of VIPs, sometimes it may be necessary to perform a retrieval from within or otherwise move through enemy territory as quickly and silently as possible."

"That would indeed be useful." He doubted he would ever match Sayoko's seemingly superhuman skills, even in the Metaverse, but any advantage he could obtain was a welcome one.

"Such lessons are not casually undertaken though," Sayoko continued. "Even if I focus on just the essentials, they will take the better parts of your afternoons. Of course, whether you accept or decline, I shall continue to faithfully fulfill all my duties where Mistress Nunnally is concerned. You need not worry about the training compromising that in the least."

"I really don't know what I would do without you, Sayoko."

"The pleasure is mine, Master Lelouch. But I shouldn't hold you. Doubtlessly you will want to be well-rested before your caper tomorrow."

"Thank you, Sayoko."

Before retiring for the night, Lelouch went to see Nunnally.

"Sayoko told me you were out earlier," she said.

"I was. I was doing some errands for the Student Council with Milly and Kallen. We had to pick some things up in town," he told her, twisting the truth.

"Is that what you would call a double date?" she asked.

"Not at all."

Nunnally looked disappointed. "Well, I hope the three of you had fun."

"It was a productive outing."

"Have you heard that brother Clovis is dating someone? They say her name's Leila. It's a nice name. I hear that she's really pretty too." She frowned. "I wish I could see her for myself. She could be our half sister-in-law one day."

It was now Lelouch's turn to frown, but Nunnally's blindness meant that she couldn't see the change in his expression. Nunnally was of course ignorant of Clovis' crimes, and knew him only as the loving half brother he had been back in their childhood, and not the Viceroy who was nothing if not an expert at manipulating the media to constantly present himself in the best possible light. He couldn't break the truth to Nunnally without admitting to his own involvement in matters that she wouldn't approve of.

Besides, she would be learning the truth from Clovis' own mouth soon enough anyway.

In any case, Leila's face was public knowledge these days; the media had latched onto the story quickly, and such trivialities were a good way of distracting the public from the corruption within their own government, or the deplorable conditions of the Japanese. So Lelouch described Leila's appearance to Nunnally. It helped that he had met the Countess in person.

"I wish that we could see the others again," Nunnally said wistfully. "I miss Clovis, Euphy, and all of the others…"

"Nunnally, you know why that can't happen… we'd just be used as political pawns again. Even if they meant well, we'd be drawn into the schemes of the others…"

"I know…" she said sadly. "But I'll always have you, Lelouch!" Her expression brightened.

"That's right, Nunnally."

"And remember our pinky promise!" She said in a cheery voice. "You'll have to eat a thousand needles if you lie!"

Lelouch took no pleasure in continually lying to his sister, and he certainly didn't look forward to the punishment she had promised. But he didn't want to trouble Nunnnally, and so he would continue to project the persona of the perfect big brother, who was always honest with her. But as much as that itself was a lie, at its core was the truth that he loved his sister, and he would do anything necessary to ensure her wellbeing.

And for that, Britannia had to fall.

 **Days until Shinjuku is Demolished: 16**

 **A/N:**

 **Leila's alternate twintailed hairstyle in this chapter is based on the style her canonical counterpart uses when she joins the Wyvern Squadron in battle in the second Akito the Exiled movie. The design of her school uniform in this chapter is a cross between her canonical E.U. military uniform (particularly with the red highlights) and the dark blue uniforms worn by the Kosei High School Students (e.g. Yusuke and Hifumi) in Persona 5.**

 **As for St. Lucy's, it does not exist in either Code Geass or Persona 5, and is an invention for this story, but it is intended to serve roughly the same role as Kosei High in Persona 5. It however needed to be a Britannian school, so a different name was needed. I chose the name St. Lucy's for three reasons. Firstly, Kosei High, the P5 counterpart which it is modeled on, has some hints of possibly being a religious school for Japanese Christians, so I wanted the religious theme to carry over (which also fits with Leila's Arcana and Persona). Such an institution would not seem out of place in Britannia either, as the formal title of the nation is the "Holy Britannian Empire", and there are some scattered references made to some form of Christianity being practiced in Britannia throughout Code Geass. Secondly, Kosei High is speculated to have been given its name as a pun on "rehabilitation" in Persona 5. St. Lucy is said to have have refused to make a sacrifice to the Roman Emperor, which gives the name of the school a subversive feel, and ties it to the theme of "rebellion" in this story. Lastly, the name is a call back to another character of the Priestess Arcana in Persona 3. Namely, Fukka Yamagishi's Persona was Lucia, which was the Roman name for St. Lucy, who was further associated with sight, again fitting for Leila's abilities as the Priestess in this story.**

 **When Lelouch recounts his exile, Marrybel is a nod to Marrybel mel Britannia, who was originally depicted in Oz of the Reflection, and who the recap movies showed to have been one of those royals present to see Lelouch and Nunnally off. Interestingly, Carine, who does appear in the canon of the original show, also appears among those gathered, but given that Carine is also established to not like Nunnally, I came up with my own explanation for her presence.**

 **If anyone familar with Code Geass forgets who Nagata was, he was member of the resistance working with Kallen and driving the truck in episode 1, who was mortally wounded by fire from Villetta's Knightmare. However, because the events of this story are currently several months before the skirmish in Shinjuku in the original canon, he would likely be still alive and well at this point in the story, so I decided to give him an appearance.**

 **Tamaki, as noted, is not quite is usual self in this chapter, but it is an established part of his character that he does like to go drinking, so it's perfectly conceivable that he might get drunk from time to time. And drunk or not, he is still a bit of an egotist and a fool through and through.**

 **Inoue is another of the canonical members of the Resistance and Black Knights in the original show. Of course, the Black Knights in this story are fundamentally different organization. From those scenes in which Inoue appears, she is consistently portrayed as being kindhearted, which is further reinforced by her Japanese voice actor, Kikuko Inoue (who she is named after), being typecast as playing motherly or dignified characters, and so I had her behave accordingly.**

 **It is well established that virtually all members of Kallen's resistance cell held her brother, who helped found it, in the highest regard, and their desire to see his dream reach fruition helped lead them to follow the canonical Zero. Here, that tendency somewhat pacifies their response to learning that Kallen is working with Lelouch and the others, but it goes without saying that they're distrustful of Britannians, which is why Lelouch had to wear as mask in canon in the first place.**

 **In other news, this story finally has a TVTropes page, graciously provided by one of my readers. It's still a very nascent page, but I hope to see it grow as the story continues!**

 **Next up, back to infiltrating Clovis' Palace!**


	18. Return to the Theater of Vanity

"Okay, let's resume the infiltration."

Meeting up after school, the Black Knights had made their way to the outer perimeter of the Government Bureau and entered the Metaverse, returning to Clovis' Palace.

The guards seemed to be on slightly higher alert than last time. Shadow Clovis was still clearly on his guard after the confrontation two days ago. However, with Bishop's aid and knowledge of the route they needed to take, they were quickly able to retrace their steps through the theater with a minimum of entanglements. Before long, they found themselves back at the hall where they had encountered Shadow Clovis and fought his captain.

"No Shadows within; the coast is clear," Leila said quietly.

"Well done, Bishop." Lelouch turned to the other Black Knights. "I assume everyone is still fresh?"

"Affirmative, Zero," Kallen replied. Milly and Arthur chorused their own affirmations in turn.

"Then let us continue to press our advantage," he smirked.

"The Shadows further in are more powerful than the ones that we've seen so far, but we should be able to handle them," Leila advised. "Still, we should stay on our guard. My abilities are not infallible, and no matter how good the intelligence, the fog of war always remains. We don't know what other defenses the Palace's ruler has within."

There were still the familiar dancing Apsaras Shadows, who showed up regularly to support other Shadows in battle, but Lelouch could usually talk his way out of fights with them by donning the mask of his own Apsaras, and he made good use of her healing and protective abilities. Besides the fire-casting Hua Po, the gossamer-winged sprites who they had previously encountered alongside Apsaras, they also found themselves confronting enemy Jack Frosts, whose mischievous streak now turned against the Black Knights as they tried to freeze the thieves solid, all while innocently giggling "Hee-ho!" Milly quickly turned the tables on them, summoning Medea and blasting them with Maragi.

"Don't melt us, hee-ho!" They moaned piteously, puddles already starting to form around them.

"I'll let you go if you assist us," Lelouch said, approaching with his own Jack Frost.

Like the Asparas Shadows, they were only too happy to rebel against Clovis when they saw that one of their own was allied with the intruders.

"Why didn't you say you had one of our brothers with you, hee-ho? Take this, Mister! Hee-ho!"

The Jack Frosts scurried off, but not before leaving a generous number of gifts behind for the Black Knights. Most were just sundries, but every little bit helped.

Another new type of Shadow was Ippon-Datara, an embittered one-eyed and one-legged blacksmith, wielding a heavy sledgehammer that could strike with great force. Ippon-Datara was resistant to Medea's fire spells, and not only did Master Cat's wind spells have no effect upon it, they bounced right off the blacksmith's armor, sending Milly diving for cover, but Suzuka Gozen quickly put the blacksmith out of his misery though sheer brute force.

"Your Persona is weak to wind?" Kallen asked.

Milly laughed nervously. "I guess it's because I'm so flighty. I leap from one idea to the next without a moment's delay," she said in a singsong voice. She paused. "But in all seriousness, a strong gale will knock Medea out of the air, and when she goes down, so do I."

Then there were the Makami, hunting wolf spirits with paper-thin, elongated bodies that made them seem like kites in the breeze. Their frail appearance belied a nasty bite, and they could cast Frei spells like Clovis' captain, though thankfully they lacked the same punch. They rode the winds gracefully and it was obvious that nuclear spells were going to be ineffective, but physical attacks worked just fine, and Lelouch soon had an idea.

"Slime!" He called. "Zio!"

The Makami indeed conducted electricity quite well, and the one he had targeted fell whimpering to the ground.

"Great job, Zero!" Kallen shouted, and he suddenly found her giving him a high-five, a spontaneous move that judging from her reaction seemed to surprise even her. But a most curious thing happened. Lelouch could feel the power of the Chariot flowing through him and responding to Kallen, feeding back into her. Could it be?

"Queen! Don't give them a moment to recover! Finish them off!"

"Um… Yeah, right away Zero!" she said, recovering from her embarrassment, and cleaving through not only the fallen Makami as it tried to rise, but the one next to it as well.

Was it just him, or did Suzuka Gozen's last strike seem unusually powerful? If that sort of resonance he had just felt was a repeatable phenomenon, it could open potent new battle strategies.

"What gave you the idea to use electricity?" Kallen asked afteward.

"I trust you're familiar with Benjamin Franklin's famous kite experiment?"

"Of course."

"It was a long shot, but it looks like it paid off."

The most dangerous but also the least common normal shadows that they encountered were the equine sages. Dispatching one on its own was hardly a problem, especially if the Black Knights got the drop on them, as their victory from two days before attested. However, the sages were swift, and unlike the one from before, which Lelouch could now only conclude to have been an aberrant Shadow, most seemed to prefer fire magic rather than wind, which they furiously leveled at the Black Knights.

Medea spread her cloak into wide sorcerous wings, using them to intercept the incoming fireballs. Milly gritted her teeth as her Persona was struck repeatedly. Medea was resistant to fire spells, but not impervious to them, and the barrage took a toll on her. But she was still standing when it was it was over.

She smiled.

"Hey boys, what's the matter?" She asked, batting her eyelashes. "Can't catch little old me?"

Milly was flirting with the Shadows? Horse-headed ones at that…

That was wrong on so many levels.

But there was a method to her madness. Medea held out her staff, and Milly shouted "Marin Karin!" A pink haze surrounded one of the Shadows, and its eyes glazed over. A bit of drool rolled from its mouth.

Somehow, Milly had the Shadow under her control.

Smirking triumphantly, Milly cracked her whip. "That's it! Now do my bidding! Fight for your new mistress!"

The brainwashed Shadow turned on its ally, blasting it with a fireball at point-blank range. Totally unprepared for the attack, the other Shadow was destroyed at once.

"Jeanne d'Arc!" Leila called as she pulled off her mask, her Persona appearing above her. "Psi!"

The psychedelic spiral of colors closed in on the still-brainwashed Shadow. While Leila's spells were considerably more powerful with an awakened Persona, normally they couldn't take out a Shadow in one strike unless it had been weakened first. But now, the Shadow burst, head first, and vanished.

"What just happened?" Arthur asked.

"Do you mean Diamond pulling a dominatrix act all of a sudden?" Kallen asked, sounding scandalized. "Or the Shadow's head exploding?"

"Both."

"That's what I'd like to know too," Lelouch added.

"Ooh, so you do know about that, Queen", Milly grinned. "I didn't know you were into such kinks!"

"I am not!"

"But you know about them," she smirked. "To think our frail flower isn't as strait-laced as we all thought…"

"Don't give me that crap, Diamond! You know that how I behave at school is just an act! Would a wallflower be sneaking around in other people's psyches, beating up Shadows?"

"I'm kidding! But you're too easy to tease, and your reactions are priceless! But if you must know the truth, it's a new trick I learned. It just seemed to come to me. I can't absorb Shadows and make them my own Personas like Zero can, but I can bewitch them for a moment."

"How fitting for Medea…" Kallen murmured darkly.

"That's not fair!" Milly said, suddenly pouting. "Medea didn't seduce Jason in the myth… it was the other way around! In fact, the gods made her fall in love with him! Then he abandoned her! It just makes me mad! Though I suppose people's cognition of her may be why she has such a skill…"

"You've been researching your Persona?" Lelouch asked.

"Of course! Haven't all of you?"

"I knew all about Suzuka Gozen," Kallen replied. "And Jeanne d'Arc hardly needs explanation," she said, glancing to Leila.

"But why did the Shadow's head explode?" Arthur asked, steering the conversation back on course.

"That was my doing," Leila replied sheepishly. "My Persona's Psi spells exploit weaknesses in the enemy's mental defenses. Normally, I can just manage a psychokinetic attack, but if their mental faculties are already impaired it's easy for me to get in past their defenses and… well, you saw the result…"

"Brutal…" Kallen murmured.

"Is melting a Shadow's head to slag really any different?"

"I suppose not," Kallen said with a shrug.

"It's regrettable…" Leila continued. "I didn't mean for such overkill."

"You ended the battle quickly, preventing potential harm to your teammates," Lelouch told her. "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

They continued to make their way through the theater. Lelouch found, through repeated trials, that the phenomenon he had experienced with Kallen earlier was indeed reproducible. It seemed to be linked to their emotional state. Namely, when their morale soared, such as when one of them was able to incapacitate or critically damage a shadow, and they offered encouragement to each other, power would be momentarily transferred along their bond, strengthening the other. In essence, they could entrust each other with a powerful follow-up attack, 'passing the baton' so to speak.

Igor had already emphasized to him how his bonds would strengthen his Personas. In comparison, the strange old man had glossed over how they would empower his allies in turn. Yet ridiculous as it sounded, the 'baton pass' technique was an even purer expression of weaponized friendship. Perhaps cognition made it possible in this world, but it was something he could use to his advantage.

Of course, it didn't escape Milly's notice, nor those of the other Black Knights, that he was suddenly trying to high-five them in battle, an act that normally would have been out of character for him. Since it was harmless, and it would stave off Milly's teasing, he explained to them what he had felt earlier and the apparent benefits of the 'baton pass'. He proceeded to test it with each of them in turn, but Milly, Leila, and Arthur couldn't quite produce the same reaction as with Kallen. Was it because only his bond with Kallen had reached the point where such a resonance was possible? He would have to spend more time with each of them to see if they could acquire the ability as well. As for Milly, she took it as evidence that he and Kallen had a thing for each other, which they vehemently denied. They were partners in crime, not lovers!

Soon, they came to another chamber, and Leila held up a hand.

"There are no Shadows in there… but something doesn't feel quite right…. there's a great amount of distortion ahead… Be on your guard, everyone."

They entered cautiously, wary of a trap. Like the rest of the theater, the room was lavishly decorated. Of particular note were a number of statues of Clovis lining the sides of the room, vanity portraits of the Viceroy that portrayed him as a heroic figure, more of a demigod than a man. Narrowing his perception, Lelouch used his Third Eye, and while the rest of the room was cast into darkness, the statues stood out brightly. It could not make their exact significance clear, but they certainly weren't ordinary statues, and they merited closer investigation.

"This way," he gestured. "Don't touch anything until we can figure out what's going on here."

The Black Knights nodded, and crept quietly behind him. At least they did until Kallen suddenly shouted, "What the hell?"

Lelouch turned around in alarm, only to find see Kallen, Milly, and Leila writhing as if to try to escape some unseen force holding them in place, but to no avail.

"Look at their feet!" Arthur cried.

Quickly glancing downward, he saw that the girls' shoes had been bleached white, and in the case of Leila, whose exposed skin could be seen just above the upper edge of her high heels, the same was true of her feet as well, with little streaks of gray mixed in. But that wasn't all. Bit by bit, the unnatural whiteness was encroaching upon the warm, living flesh of Leila's ankles and began working its way up her legs, converting them into cold, immaculate marble. Judging from their expressions, the others were in similar distress.

"They're turning to stone?" Lelouch asked, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Indeed," Shadow Clovis' disembodied voice suddenly echoed through the chamber. "I was wondering when you would make it here. I've had some time to think since our last encounter, and I think I was too hasty in ordering their executions. Not only is it uncouth to harm a woman, but it would be so very wasteful. Thieves your companions may be, but they are quite lovely in their own rights, especially the one who pretends to be my Leila. Thus, I have commuted their sentences; they shall instead be preserved as works of art, to be admired by all those who visit my theater, and to serve as a warning to other would-be thieves."

"Are you just going to stand there, listening to him blather on?" Kallen snarled in exasperation, the transformation already well up the calves of her suit. "Do something, Zero!"

Lelouch considered his options, thinking quickly. Clovis' cognition of the girls as art had to be what was petrifying them. In a sense, it worked by the same principles as any Palace, distorting reality to match the ruler's own image of it. Normally, the Palace ruler's cognition was only strong enough to force those perceived as threats into wearing their Metaverse thief outfits. But there were places where the ruler's cognition was weaker, such as the safe rooms within a Palace, where the distortion would momentarily dissipate. What then would happen if the Palace ruler's cognition was far stronger than usual in a location? The answer was before his eyes; more drastic distortions would be imposed like this. But as they had seen in Villetta's Palace, especially strong distortions tended to be less stable, practically falling apart on themselves before being haphazardly put back together. Shadow Villetta's throne room had been an island of imposed order amidst the chaos of the deepest parts of her Palace. This room didn't outwardly appear to have such a level of distortion, so something had to be reinforcing Shadow Clovis' cognition here.

The Clovis statues!

"Unfortunately, a would-be gentleman thief like yourself lacks the same 'artistic merit' as your female companions," Shadow Clovis' voice said, directly addressing Lelouch. "Nor have I any need for a mangy cat."

"Hey!" Arthur shouted, clearly offended.

"So I'm afraid that you two will still have to die," Shadow Clovis concluded.

Darkness suddenly gathered on the far end of the chamber. A chimera-like Shadow appeared, a large creature with a monkey's head, the limbs of a tiger, a body like that of a raccoon, and snakes for its tail.

"The Elevens could hardly hope to match my artistic genius, but I will still give them credit where credit is due," Shadow Clovis continued. "This Nue is a most marvelous creation of theirs, and like any proper Honorary Britannian in Area 11, it now serves my glory, a well-trained beast that knows its master! Nue, kill the boy and his cat! See to it that no harm comes to my lovely statues-to-be! I'll be there to collect them once you've disposed of the trash."

"As you command, Director Clovis," Nue growled as it began to advance.

"This is NOT good!" Arthur cried. He looked over his shoulders to the still struggling girls. "Can't you summon your Personas or something?"

"We'd be doing that, if we could," Milly replied. "But I can't reach my mask!"

The transformation had begun to affect their other extremities too. The girls' hands had already turned to finely sculpted stone, and judging from their more sluggish movements, most of their voluntary muscles had been paralyzed as well.

"We walked right into that trap, even though we knew something was coming," Leila sighed. "I'm sorry, everyone."

"Can't you come up with a plan, Zero?" Kallen called. "Don't you have some Persona you can call upon to get us out of this mess?"

"Arthur," Lelouch said quickly. "Break off and destroy as many of the Clovis statues as you can. I'll try to hold the Nue's attention!"

"Got it!"

"Enough chatter! Here I come, thieves!" the Nue roared, charging forward, as Arthur darted off to the side.

Lelouch expected that the Nue would try to bite or claw him. But suddenly, he heard Leila cry, "Zero! Above you! Look out!"

Lelouch leapt to the side, narrowly avoiding a comically large weight that had appeared out of nowhere, conjured by the Nue, causing the room to rumble as it landed. The weight disappeared after a moment, but if it had hit him, it would have surely cracked his skull, if not killed him outright.

Still, that gave him an idea…

As Arthur moved around the perimeter of the room, shattering each Clovis statue in turn with a blast of powerful wind from Master Cat, Lelouch backed himself toward the wall, positioning himself next to one of the Clovis statues. Arthur was doing an admirable job, and he had slowed the rate at which stone was encroaching on Kallen, Milly, and Leila's bodies, but it still wasn't fast enough on its own. If things kept up as they were, the three of them would be fully petrified before they could take down the Nue. But perhaps he could speed along the destruction of the Clovis statues…

"Don't think you can hide, thief!" Nue snarled, preparing its Skull Cracker again, but Lelouch was ready for it. The weight appeared above him and crashed downward , but Lelouch sidestepped the attack. But the Clovis statue could not move, and was crushed into rubble.

"You'll pay for destroying the Director's property!"

"Oh… but I thought you just did," Lelouch smirked.

"Insolent fool!" The Nue lunged at him, but its enormous girth meant that it smashed through and knocked down several more Clovis statues.

"Keep it up, Zero!" Milly shouted.

"Rrrgh!" the Nue raged, changing its tactics. "Maeiha!"

Multiple tendrils of cursed energy burst from the ground. Lelouch couldn't avoid being hit, pain rushing through him, but another pair of Clovis statues next to him were suddenly unbalanced and toppled to the ground, where they broke into pieces and vanished.

"Forgetting about me?" Arthur taunted. "Master Cat! Garu!"

The booted feline Persona appeared and destroyed the final Clovis statue with a burst of wind. At once, Kallen, Milly, and Leila were fully flesh and blood again as Clovis' false cognition was stripped away.

"Suzuka Gozen!"

"Medea!"

"Jeanne d'Arc!"

A barrage of spells struck the Nue from behind, causing it howl in pain. It collapsed to the floor, shouting threats, but even it seemed to know that its time had come.

"Commence an all-out attack!" Lelouch shouted.

The Black Knights descended upon the Nue with unusual fury, and by the time that it exploded into bloody remains, there wasn't much left of it.

"Impossible…" Shadow Clovis' voice echoed through the chamber. "First you defeat the Dark Sun, and now Nue? Who are you thieves?" He sounded afraid.

"Show yourself, coward!" Kallen demanded. "Don't think you can just look down on us from on high!"

"As flattering as it is that you'd want to make a statue of me, I'll have to pass," Milly added.

"We're not just ornaments to adorn your Palace with," Leila said defiantly. "You already have my double for that. Sooner or later, we'll have you cornered, Viceroy, and put an end to this madness of yours."

"It's funny how the so-called mighty overlook the smallest ones of all," Arthur smirked.

"We are the Black Knights," Lelouch concluded, laughing. "No matter what you throw at us, you cannot stop our justice!"

"Ingrates!" Shadow Clovis seethed. "I tried to give you a relatively painless end, and this is how you repay my kindness? Guards! Hear me! Your Director, Clovis la Britannia commands you! Double, no, triple all patrols! Apprehend these Black Knights at once! Do not rest until they are found, and make them regret that they ever set foot in here at all!"

The ambience of the Palace changed, red lights flashing through the corridors and alarms blaring all around.

"Looks like we really managed to piss him off," Kallen murmured.

"He's on high alert now," Arthur sighed. "This could get ugly really quick. We should make an exit before the whole Palace is swarming with Shadows."

"There's a gap in the Viceroy's cognition just ahead…" Leila said.

"A safe room!" Milly exclaimed.

"Yes," Leila nodded. "We should be able to take cover there until the patrols pass."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Lelouch asked.

The safe room appeared to be a small break room, where administrative staff working in the Government Bureau might brew coffee, grab something to eat from a vending machine, or socialize with their colleagues before returning to their jobs. It certainly was a place that would be beneath the Viceroy's notice, which accounted for its relative lack of distortion. Leila treated Lelouch's injury from Nue's curse, while the others took a moment to catch their breaths.

"At least those damn Clovis statues won't catch us off-guard next time," Kallen grumbled. "We now know to smash them on sight. I'm still pissed at being trapped like that!"

"I wouldn't have guessed such a thing was possible," Milly murmured.

"Now you see just how dangerous the power of cognition is," Leila said, standing up as she dismissed Jeanne d'Arc. "Imagine how powerful Clovis would be if he could learn through cognitive psience how to directly alter reality."

"He'd be like a god," Lelouch scowled.

"That's not the only thing that's bothering me," Leila said. "You saw how many of those statues he needed to reinforce his cognition and force it upon us. What if we were against a Palace ruler with a stronger will than Clovis?"

"Are you saying - " Kallen started.

"Yes," Leila replied. "We could have been transformed instantly if the ruler's cognition was strong enough."

"Yikes," Milly blanched.

"This is just speculation, though," Lelouch countered. "We still don't know exactly what aspects of cognitive psience Clovis is researching."

"That's true," Leila admitted. "But it has to be something that he considers important enough to be worth killing over."

"Do you have an estimate of how far we are from his Treasure?" Lelouch asked.

"As I said, my abilities are limited," Leila replied. "The further something is away from me, the less precisely I can read it. But the source of the distortion gives off the greatest response… so I'd conservatively estimate we're halfway to it."

"We've made excellent progress then. As of tomorrow, we'll have fifteen days until the planned demolition of Shinjuku. We should wait several days before our next infiltration. It will be extremely difficult, not to mention dangerous, to make progress while the Palace is in a heightened state of security."

"I agree," she replied. The others nodded as well. "I believe we can also resume our infiltration from here. We're not so high up that scaling the wall to the nearby window is impractical, and if we fix a rope here, the Shadows won't come in and remove it."

"My thoughts exactly. Is everyone in agreement?"

"Yes, Zero," the other Black Knights replied.

"Very well then. Good work today. I'll let you all know when we're ready for the next infiltration."

The pieces were moving into place. Lelouch knew it wouldn't be long before they discovered Clovis' secrets and his Treasure.

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 15**

 **A/N:**

 **Baton Pass is a skill in Persona 5 in which instead of a character conducting their own follow-up attack after striking an enemy's weakness, they can pass the turn to one of their allies, boosting their damage / recovery power in the process. It typically unlocks after the Protagonist has earned a few ranks with a Confidant who is a member of the Phantom Thieves. Of Lelouch' current Confidants, Kallen is the only one who has developed her relationship sufficiently with him yet for them to Baton Pass to each other, but that will soon change as he spends time with his other Confidants. To my recollection, a formal explanation for why their strength increases during a Baton Pass is not given, so I devised one for this story. And of course, Lelouch being Lelouch, he very thoroughly tests his powers as he discovers them.**

 **The trap with Clovis' statues is directly inspired by a hazard in the seventh Palace of Persona 5, in which standing nearby statues of the Palace ruler would instantly change the Phantom Thieves into mice (because he thought that other people were like insignificant mice next to him) until they scurried out of the area of effect. Of course, Clovis' cognition is different (and weaker), so the effect in his Palace was changed to a gradual petrification that only affected the female Black Knights, which I believe is in line with Clovis' love of art and the female form. This also set up a fight with** **Nue, who was one of the midbosses of Persona 5's second palace, and only fought by two members of the Phantom Thieves, so there was that parallel as well, though the circumstances behind it are different in my story.**

 **In mainline SMT titles, the "Force" line of skills, represented by the "Zan" skills is especially effective at breaking stone. While Persona does not have the "Zan" skills, they share a similar visual and wind theme with the "Garu" skills, which Arthur has, making him a natural choice to help Lelouch break Clovis' statues.**

 **The Nue's "Skull Cracker" does indeed have such a comical animation in the game, but it definitely hits like a truck. It took me a few times when I was first playing P5.**

 **Next up, more Confidant time, and continuing to probe into Clovis' Palace...**


	19. Behind the Stage

"Welcome, Trickster," a deep voice said.

Lelouch didn't even need to open his eyes to know where he was. The Velvet Room again…. What did Igor want in his dreams this time?

"I am pleased to see that you have discovered a new technique."

"The Baton Pass?"

"Whatever you choose to call it is inconsequential," Igor said, waving a hand dismissively. "But in doing so, I trust you have seen yet another of the ways in which your rehabilitation will benefit you."

"Why didn't you say anything about this sooner?"

Igor chuckled. "Some things are better discovered on your own, Trickster."

Lelouch said nothing.

"Should you not be more joyous, Trickster?" the bug-eyed man asked, clasping his gloved hands together as his lips spread into a hideous mockery of a smile. "The band of thieves you lead through the Metaverse has made tremendous progress, and you have forged several new bonds. All of this means that your rehabilitation proceeds swiftly. But there is to time to pause, recollect, and strengthen those bonds you have already made. Cherish these opportunities, for soon you may find that you have none…"

The prison bell rang.

"That is all for now, Trickster. Return to your waking world, and come back here when you will it. I shall not contact you again in this way until your next heist is over, one way or the other…"

xXx

Lelouch woke up. The Black Knights would be lying low for the next few days until Shadow Clovis finally lowered his guard again. In the meantime, he would want to make any necessary preparations for the next infiltration and cultivate his bonds to increase his own powers and those of his allies.

This left him with a rather unique problem. They had fifteen days until Shinjuku was demolished… but he already had twelve confidants who he had received some sort of vow from since he awakened to the power of Persona. Well, he had only ten if he didn't count Igor and the green-haired sisters, Shi and Tsu. He could always find them in the Velvet Room. But that meant that he had only an average of one and a half days to spend with each before they had to steal Clovis's Treasure. Actually, it was less than that, since they would likely need at least two more days to locate the Treasure within the Palace, and then they would need to send the Viceroy a calling card and spend a third day in the Metaverse to actually steal it. So that was a maximum of twelve days and ten confidants. If he allowed another day for unexpected difficulties in infiltrating Clovis's Palace, that left just eleven days to strengthen his bonds…

He had a time management problem.

At the same time, it was also a strategic problem. Was it better to deepen his bonds with as many of his confidants as possible, or to focus on developing just a few at a time? His fellow Black Knights would have to take priority, to expand the flexibility of their battle tactics as soon as possible. But where did he go from there? Some confidants, like Sayoko and Nina, didn't fight in the Metaverse, but offered him valuable expertise or tools that could aid his infiltration. And even his friends, like Rivalz and Suzaku, or even his sister offered more powerful Personas in their respective arcana.

After a moment, he decided to ask Sayoko to help him with his schedule.

"I'm so glad you asked, Master Lelouch," Sayoko said, smiling cheerfully. "I've arranged a schedule for you over the next two weeks." She nonchalantly pulled up a long roll of paper, covered in minuscule handwritten notes. I've started by setting you up with one hundred and eight dates."

"I don't understand Sayoko… I asked you help me plan meetings with my confidants, not one hundred and eight girls!"

"You never know when you'll meet a new confidant, Master Lelouch. Besides, you're a healthy young man, and have certain needs."

"That's besides the point! I can't meet with one hundred and eight people in two weeks, girls or not!"

"I'm afraid you misunderstand, Master Lelouch. That's one hundred and eight dates on the first day."

Lelouch woke up in a cold sweat.

Huh… he had been still dreaming… Well, he supposed he should be thankful that it had been just a nightmare. Honestly, after the sorts of comments Sayoko had been making, should he have expected anything else? Actually, was he really awake this time? He pinched his arm.

It hurt.

Okay, so he was truly awake now. But his problem remained.

xXx

"You wanted to speak with me?" Milly asked after the other Student Council members had left. "Is this about 'business'?" she continued playfully.

"In a fashion," he replied. "I wanted to see how you were holding up. It's not easy leading a double life."

"Well, I have been falling a bit behind on paperwork ever since we started regularly going into the Metaverse…. Say, you're my Vice President on the Council… if we stay late together, we can get most of work done…. We can chat too… what do you say?"

"That sounds like a plan. It will get suspicious if we neglect our duties for the Student Council too much."

"It's been so exciting to be a phantom thief," Milly said as they worked on budget forms and other requests from the academy's many clubs. "The thrill of the heist…"

"It's not a game, you know," Lelouch said, raising an eyebrow. "Need I remind you what almost happened to you and the others yesterday?"

"There isn't the same thrill if there isn't a bit of danger, is there?" Milly asked. "Besides, isn't it like a game of chess to you, planning your strategy and trying to outwit the enemy? And don't think I haven't noticed the theme you have going with Queen and Bishop."

"You do have me there," Lelouch admitted. "But the stakes are far higher than any game of chess."

"Still, it really feels like I'm taking charge of my destiny when I'm there, fighting alongside you in the Metaverse," Milly continued. "I may play around as the Student Council President, but at the end of the day, it seems like my future is decided for me…. I felt like that if these days at Ashford Academy end, I'd lose what little freedom I have…. And that's why being a Black Knight is so liberating…"

Lelouch felt something resonate within him. The power of his Fortune Persona had increased.

"Well, thanks for listening to me ramble on," Milly said with a smile. "Oh, look at the time! It's been that long already! I guess we can finish the rest of this later."

It was late, so Lelouch returned to his quarters after leaving the Student Council room. There, he saw Nunnally, sitting at the dining room table.

"Big brother, is that you?" she asked.

"Yes, it's me, Nunnnally," he said warmly.

"Would you like to keep working on those origami cranes together? It's been a while…"

Nunnally was smiling so sweetly that he couldn't say no to her.

The simple act of folding cranes was a precious moment of peace with his sister. No conflict, no lies, just him and Nunnally.

They still had many cranes to go, but they had made good progress by the time that he had to tuck in Nunnally to bed.

"Remember to think of a wish," Nunnally reminded him.

"I will."

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 14**

xXx

"You called?" Leila asked, meeting him outside of Ashford Academy, her hair once again styled into twintails and her eyes concealed behind sunglasses. "I thought we weren't gathering again until several days had passed."

"I wanted to discuss tactics with you, and challenge you to a game of chess if you have the time. Most of my opponents these days are mere amateurs, and I'm afraid that they might be making my own tactics stale and complacent."

"You think I would be a worthy opponent?" Leila asked.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you showed more than a casual interest in chess when you asked if I played earlier."

She nodded. "It's funny… your half-brother challenged me to a private match at one of his parties too."

"What can I say? A love of chess runs in the family… though that doesn't mean he was any good at it."

"Very well. I accept your challenge," Leila replied. "Do you know a place where we could play undisturbed?"

"We have a chapel on campus. There usually isn't anyone around there at this time of day. We could play there."

"That will do," she nodded.

"Your school is so large," Leila murmured as they walked across the campus. "St. Lucy's is small in comparison. Then again, it takes only girls, so our student body is naturally smaller than yours. And there's a certain energy here that I don't see at St. Lucy's…"

"You can thank Madam President for that. She likes to keep everyone on their toes, and ropes everyone into the strangest school festivals…"

"I'd like to see one of those one day…. We don't have many such events at my school."

"Trust me, you don't," Lelouch replied. "Unless you're into cross-dressing or the like…"

They arrived at the chapel, and stepped inside. Lelouch took out the chess board he had brought with him, and set it up.

"I'll play as Black if you don't mind," he told her.

"That's fine with me."

"Very well. Your move, Lady Breisgau…"

"Leila," she corrected firmly.

As he thought, she had no love for her noble title when she had no loyalty to Britannia and especially when it had come with the deaths of her parents.

"Of course. My apologies, Leila."

Playing as white, Leila moved first, and recognizing the importance of controlling the center of the board, immediately moved her pawn forward to claim it, while freeing both her queen and bishop to move on future turns. The Queen's Gambit? Or perhaps she would pursue a less conventional strategy of a queenside castle? It wasn't as safe as a kingside castle, but would exploit white's tempo advantage with the first move, and would further shore up her center with a well-placed queenside rook.

Leila had removed her sunglasses once inside the chapel, and glancing into her eyes, Lelouch could tell that she was also busily running scenarios in her head, already planning her responses if he accepted or declined her gambit and anticipating his likely traps, working several moves ahead. Most nobles could only manage to plan one, perhaps two moves at a time, their own estimation of their skill at the game severely inflated. As she met his own gaze, he knew that she had realized that he had read her likely openings, and had begun adjusting her strategy accordingly.

He grinned. He was going to enjoy this. "Well then…"

It was a hard fought match. Leila didn't fall for his usual traps that would leave a lesser player in disarray, and as much as she was able to calculate her moves in advance, she remained flexible, adapting to the realities of the board while maintaining a strong position in the center. Yet as the match went on, Lelouch began to see a weakness in her play; she was too hesitant to sacrifice her pieces at times. At last, she failed to mount an offense that while costly, could have put him on the ropes, and he responded with a ruthless counterattack, at last breaking through her line. His King advanced alongside his pawns, and while Leila rallied her defenses, inflicting serious casualties upon his pieces, he continued to push through.

"Checkmate," he smirked.

Leila examined the board, but it was a formality. She knew she had been beaten.

"You're every bit as talented as the Viceroy says," she said, conceding her defeat graciously. "I wasn't sure at first; it would hardly take a grandmaster to defeat him. But you lived up to your reputation."

"Your mistake was relenting in your attack," Lelouch said. "You almost had me."

"That's true enough for a game of chess," Leila admitted. "But in the real world, what is victory worth if you've thrown away everything to achieve it?"

"Sacrifices have to be made sometimes."

"But when is the cost too high?" she pressed. "For example, would you sacrifice your fellow Black Knights so easily as you did your pieces if it meant that you would conquer your foe?"

"I-" There was no right answer to that question! He couldn't think of Kallen, Milly, and the others as simply being expendable pawns! But if he were to let the greater evil triumph by refusing to do what was necessary - How had she outmaneuvered him so quickly?

"I see," Leila murmured. "Think carefully on that. I will not ask for your answer now. I'm all too accustomed to people saying what they think others want to hear in the moment. Whatever your answer is, I want it to come from the heart when you're ready."

"You're far more devious than you look…" Lelouch said wryly.

"I have to be," she replied sadly. "From the moment I was born, my life has been a lie. I'm a noble, but I detest Britannia, just as my parents did. I never really felt that I belonged here. Even now, I play the reluctant socialite turned Viceroy's lady friend, but I hate every second of it. But in spite all of the masks that I've worn, I try not to forget who I really am."

That sort of loneliness and resentment was all too familiar to Lelouch. Since he had taken the name Lamperouge, his life had been a lie too. He had acclimated to that life and made friends on the Student Council, but there had been a restlessness that he could never quite still. Even as Zero, where he felt freer to be his true self, he quite literally wore masks…

"I think we're more alike than we realized," he chuckled.

The power of the Priestess stirred within Lelouch, binding him closer to his confidant.

"I should be going now," Leila said. "The Viceroy will become suspicious if I'm gone for too long."

"Shall I accompany you to the gate?" It would only be polite for him to offer.

"I would like that," Leila said after a moment.

It wasn't long after Leila had departed that the wisdom of that decision was called into question.

"Hm, interesting," a voice said.

Lelouch turned around. Approaching him was a blonde man, whose hair was styled into a ponytail and a large bang that covered much of the side of his face, and appeared to be in his thirties. The man was well-dressed, with a blue suit jacket over a red turtleneck, and had a cleft chin, but his eyes immediately seemed to establish him as a shifty character.

"Diethard Reid, Hi-TV", the man said, introducing himself in oily voice. "And you are?"

"Lelouch Lamperouge, Ashford Academy," Lelouch warily replied.

"If I'm not mistaken, that young lady who just departed looked rather like the Viceroy's new girlfriend, who everyone in the Area is talking about."

"What are you getting at?" Lelouch said impatiently. Was this man going to try to blackmail him? Well, there was always Mementos to deal with that, but such a distraction was not what they needed while they were trying to steal Clovis' Treasure.

"You misunderstand me," Diethard replied, his voice lowering. "While such a scoop would no doubt catch the interest of any number of tabloids and drive a number of news cycles, I have no interest in such trite drivel." His excitement grew. "I'm looking for the next big story, one that will really shake things up!"

"How does this involve me?"

"There have been a number of strange occurrences around Ashford Academy lately," Diethard continued. "It started a few weeks ago, when a group calling itself the Black Knights issued threats against the former gym teacher here, claiming that they would 'steal her heart'. Are you familiar with these stories?"

"Who at Ashford isn't?" Lelouch replied truthfully. It wasn't anything that the TV man didn't already know.

"By itself, the story would have seemed like occult nonsense, the sort of urban legend that crops up from time to time. But there were other incidents as well. Putting them together, I noticed a pattern - a constantly spreading scope, with increasingly high-profile targets being chosen. The Purist movement in Area 11 has collapsed practically overnight. Yet nobody is reporting on it outside of some fringe internet forums!" Diethard's hands shook with frustration.

"That's why you came to Ashford?" Lelouch asked.

"Yes! I don't know how they're doing it, but the Black Knights might just be the story I need! If their power is real, they could even change the course of history! I want to be there to document their story from the start and jolt the masses out of their stupor! It'll be the highest ratings I've ever had!"

"What makes you think that I could tell you anything about the Black Knights that someone else couldn't?"

"Well, after dismantling the Purists, who would be their next logical target, if they really wanted to make a manifesto to the world? Viceroy Clovis. And who do I see you with but the Viceroy's girlfriend? A mere coincidence? There's no such thing. Some may call it destiny, but I say God helps those who help themselves." Diethard leaned in closer. "It may surprise you to know that there have been a number of irregularities surrounding the Viceroy. Or perhaps not. But you, my friend, if you are indeed an acquaintance of Countess Breisgau, are uniquely positioned to have insights that others might not. You too can play a role in shaping this story. What do you say?"

Diethard's perception was alarming. He had already pieced together far too much for comfort. Yet there was a certain fanaticism to him, an obsession with making and shaping history, and he had demonstrated a startling lack of loyalty to Britannia and its institution for a TV man. Such men were dangerous, but also easy to control when you knew what made them tick. Besides, if the Black Knights needed notoriety to advance deeper in Mementos, an ally in the media could be invaluable…

"What's in it for me, hypothetically speaking?" Lelouch asked.

"I would of course keep you and your sources anonymous," Diethard replied. "And I could do any number of favors for you. Bury stories of your dalliances with the Countess? Done. Ruin a rival for you? With pleasure. Pass along the juiciest tidbits that I uncover to you, or even simply writing a favorable letter of reference? All of this can be yours, if we work together. What do you say, Mr. Lamperouge?"

The man was utterly amoral, but he was far too dangerous to have as an enemy, and he offered them so much…

"You have yourself a deal, Mr. Reid."

"Splendid! You shall not regret this! Here, take my card."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Devil Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

A deal with the devil… But he wasn't a stranger to such deals… "Show the strength of thy will all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!" Arsene's words echoed in his mind.

Of course, there was always a price to be paid.

"Why don't we take this somewhere else, Mr. Lamperouge? I'm very interested in what you have to say…"

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 13**

xXx

Lelouch trained with Sayoko the next day.

His maid was a grueling instructor.

Physical fitness was an important prerequisite, she explained, and the training required a great deal of discipline. She couldn't begin to teach him her techniques unless he could demonstrate a certain level of competence and commitment first, lest she dishonor her school and do him the disservice of giving him a false impression of his own skills.

Unlike Villetta, Sayoko was perfectly pleasant, offering him plenty of encouragement, but she could rival his former coach as a slave driver.

He went to bed early that night, exhausted.

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 12**

xXx

The Black Knights resumed their infiltration of Clovis' Palace. The security level had finally died down enough that they could make meaningful progress.

"Nicely done, Diamond!" Lelouch called as Milly struck a Shadow down to its knees with a burst of flame from Medea.

"Your turn, Zero!" she replied, performing a Baton Pass to him.

"Ippon-Datara!" he yelled as he pulled off his mask.

The embittered blacksmith, now his Persona, appeared and proceeded to go on a rampage against the enemy, swinging his hammer wildly. Additional power from the Fortune arcana temporarily flowed into Lelouch, lending great force to Ippon-Datara's blows.

Unlike his allies' Personas, Ippon-Datara had no offensive magic whatsoever. It was a purely physical bruiser, but it compensated with an impressive set of resistances, protecting him from wind, bless, and curse spells, and repelling wind spells altogether. Ippon-Datara was highly vulnerable against ice, but he still found it to be a winning trade on the whole.

"Looking cool, Zero!" Arthur grinned as the Shadows burst into harmless wisps.

Progress through the Palace was swift, but it suddenly came to a halt when they reached the Director's Office.

"This door just won't open!" Kallen scowled in frustration, after unsuccessfully ordering Suzuka Gozen to melt it down with nuclear fury.

"It's like that barrier in Mementos," Arthur sighed.

"There has to be a way around it…" Milly said, holding a hand to her chin.

"We thought that barrier might have something to do with cognition," Lelouch said after a moment.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kallen asked.

"If this is the Director's Office, it probably represents somewhere in Clovis's private chambers back in the real Government Bureau. We can probably gain access to the rest of this Theater, if we can find the Palace ruler's credentials in there, or gain some insight on how to steal his Treasure. But it is impossible for us to open this door from within the Metaverse…"

"Then what do you suggest?" Milly wondered.

"One of us has to open the door in the real world that this one corresponds to," Lelouch continued." All eyes turned to Leila. "And more than that, the Viceroy has to see her do it. If his chambers are no longer as private as he currently thinks they are, that might be enough to alter his cognition and grant us access to the Director's Office. I know I'm asking a lot, Bishop…"

"It's okay… I'll do it…. It's not like my parents were afraid to take such risks themselves… I need to see this through for them."

The day's infiltration brought to a premature end, Lelouch returned to the Palace entrance with the others, and then stepped into the Velvet Room.

It was time to complete Tsu's request.

"This is cruel to your sister, you know," he told her coldly as he called forth the Personas to be executed: Makami and Jack Frost.

"Are you going to get on with it or not?" Tsu asked.

He nodded with a heavy heart.

Shi was bawling her eyes out, her eyes on Jack Frost even as she prepared Makami for execution.

"Don't cry, Heeeee-ho!" Jack Frost called out as Tsu roughly pulled the hood of the condemned over the mascot Persona's head, silencing it, before shoving it into place on the guillotine.

"Commence the execution!" Igor commanded pitilessly.

The heavy blades whistled through the air as they fell and beheaded Makami and Jack Frost. A moment later, the Persona's corpses dissolved into brightly shining motes of blue light, which swirled and merged together in a brilliant flash.

"My name is Shiisaa," the new Persona said, a four-legged beast that appeared like a cross between a lion and a dog, with yellow fur, a green mane, and a bushy tail. "I look forward to serving you."

"Very good, Inmate," Tsu said. "You have successfully created Shiisaa with Frei."

"Big sister, why?" Shi sobbed inconsolably. "I liked Jack Frost! He was my friend!"

"Death is a part of life. All things die sooner or later," Tsu replied. "Why attach yourself to such things when you will inevitably lose them? You will only hurt yourself. Don't you see that it is better to avoid making such foolish attachments in the first place?"

"Then why bother making bonds with others at all?" Lelouch spoke up.

"Excuse me, Inmate?"

"What's the point of my 'rehabilitation' if making bonds is meaningless? You must know that's simply not true. Just because things die is no reason to give up on that!" he shouted angrily at her.

"How limited your understanding is," Tsu replied harshly. "You have no idea what it is like to watch everyone you've ever known die."

He shook his head. "Recall Jack Frost from the Compendium. I hope you're happy with this."

"You were the one who told me to execute Jack Frost," Tsu replied. "Do not run from your own responsibility in this. That will be thirty-four pounds and eighty-nine pence, by the way."

She was overcharging him, but this time he knew better than to talk back, or Tsu would raise it again.

"Why are you crying, hee-ho?" The resurrected Jack Frost asked, bounding over to Shi. "I'm here, hee-ho?"

The small green-haired girl wrapped the frosty Persona in a hug, and Lelouch wasn't sure if she would ever let him go.

"Since my sister is currently indisposed to giving the next request, I shall do so in her stead," Tsu said after a moment. "Bring me Matador with Magaru," she continued, her glowing golden eyes challenging him to protest.

He didn't give her that satisfaction.

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 11**

xXx

Shirley was in a tizzy about rumors of him being with a beautiful girl from another school a few days ago, but Milly quickly covered for him with a story about how she had asked Lelouch to serve as a tour guide for a potential transfer student. Shirley seemed to accept this, but she clearly wasn't happy about it.

He wondered how Leila was doing with her mission, but there wasn't anything he could do to help her. He couldn't hope to enter the real Government Bureau, not without revealing his survival to Clovis and compromising Nunnally, so he could only hope for her success.

He didn't feel up to returning to Sayoko's training that afternoon, so he decided to accompany Kallen instead as they did some shopping for the Black Knights.

"Say something, you stupid Eleven!" a voice suddenly shouted.

Kallen froze next to him, and turned to face the direction the sound was coming from. Five Britannians were beating up a Japanese street vendor. Other passerby paused for a moment to see what the commotion was about, and then went back about their business, pretending that nothing was happening.

"Apologize already! That's what you Elevens are good at, right?"

"Elevens…" Kallen murmured. She took a step forward, but Lelouch reached out a hand to stop her.

"There are five of them," he told her. She couldn't use her Persona in the real world, and although she might actually be able to take them on by herself, doing so would blow her cover as a supposedly sickly student. "Besides, what do you think would happen if you helped him and won? He wouldn't be able to do business here tomorrow. He himself chose to be a Britannian slave. That's what it means to work in the Settlement."

"But -" Kallen started.

"You got a problem?" one of the Britannians sneered, as he and his friends approached. "Feel sorry for the Eleven?"

"No, he wants to join us, right?" another asked.

"No way," Lelouch replied. "I've got better things to do than bullying a helpless Eleven who won't fight back. It makes you look real tough."

"Why you!"

Lelouch found himself promptly punched in the face by one of the Britannian bullies, sending him tumbling to the ground. That was going to leave a mark!

"Lelouch!" Kallen cried.

"Not cool man!" One of the Britannians shouted.

"The Eleven-lover started it!" the one who had punched Lelouch protested.

"Everyone's staring now!"

"No one cares if you beat on Elevens, but striking another Britannian is different!"

"Ah yes," Kallen suddenly said in an affected, sickeningly sweet voice. "Did I mention that my father is an Earl? I'm sure he'll be delighted to know that you thugs assaulted my boyfriend."

"She's a noble?"

"Shit! The last thing we need is this bitch's father throwing a lawsuit at us!"

"Everyone knows the courts almost always rule in favor of the nobility!"

"Let's get out of here!"

The bullies made a hasty retreat and vanished into the crowd.

"Are you okay?" Kallen asked, bending down next to him.

"I'll be fine," Lelouch said, rubbing his head, though he was still a bit dazed. "Check on the vendor first. I'm sure that he has it far worse than me."

"Right."

"A Britannian student?" the cowering vendor asked, looking up as she came over to him. Immediately, he went into his pitch, seemingly ignoring the fact that he had just been beaten up. "Hello. How about a California Dog? Would your boyfriend like one too? I've got ice cream as well!"

The vendor couldn't be dissuaded from giving them something, and wanted to give it away to them for free, undoubtedly as thanks for helping him, but Lelouch couldn't allow that in good conscience. The vendor may have chosen to be a Britannian slave, but the lives of those like him were already difficult enough as they were. He paid the vendor, who thanked him profusely, knowing better than to refuse a Britannian, and then Lelouch when on his way with Kallen.

"So I'm your boyfriend now?" he asked sardonically. "What changed? I was under the impression you didn't like me very much, Kallen."

"Give it a rest, Lelouch!" she snapped. "I was lying, obviously! I only said that because it was the only thing I could think of that would get them to leave without a fight! I so wanted to hit them back though…" She clenched a fist. "You know you're probably going to have a black eye…"

"Nothing that a Persona can't heal…"

"Still, that was pretty brave of you… Surely you realized they were going to hit you."

"It was not my preferred outcome, but within expectations."

"Will things really change, Lelouch?" Kallen asked quietly after a moment. "If we take down Clovis, I mean. We'll at least stop him from demolishing Shinjuku…. But Britannia will just send in another Viceroy, and we'll be back to square one again."

"No, Kallen… life will change… not just in Japan, which they call Area 11, but through all of Britannia… This is just the first step. Only then will we finally be able to take off our masks and be free.'

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 10**

xXx

There was still no word from Leila, so Lelouch resumed his training with Sayoko. He had made a side trip to Mementos with Kallen after the incident with the vendor so that he could summon Apsaras and erase his brusing. Sayoko would have told Nunnally if she saw him return injured, and there was no need to cause his sister undue anxiety.

If only a Persona could do something to relieve the fatigue he felt after training. He loathed such physical activity, but Sayoko seemed pleased that he hadn't just given up, and the power of the Hierophant seemed slightly stronger now.

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 9**

xXx

"I did it," Leila breathed. "It took a while to figure out how to do it without getting myself arrested, but I actually got the Viceroy to let me in himself… in the end, I can't believe that it worked so smoothly."

"What did you have to do?" Milly asked. "Maybe bat your eyes at him and say, 'Clovis, darling, let's go somewhere more comfortable, away from prying eyes?' Did you kiss him? Or maybe -"

"No!" Leila gasped, putting a hand to her mouth, her cheeks flushing bright red, horrified at the suggestion. "I heard there was a special painting that he kept in his quarters, so I asked him if I could see it with him. We played a few games of chess together afterward. That's all."

"Aww… my way was more fun…"

"That should work," Lelouch said, cutting off Milly. "If everything goes as I predict, Clovis' cognition should be changed to 'Leila has permission to enter my room'. That should also mean that she now has permission to enter the Director's Office in his Palace. That cognition may not last forever though, so we should act quickly."

"Agreed," Leila nodded.

xXx

A while later in Clovis' Palace, they once again stood outside of the Director's Office.

"Here goes nothing," Leila said. Stepping forward, she put her hand to the door.

Whereas it had previously refused to budge, locked tight, it now easily swung open for her.

"This way," she gestured to her fellow Black Knights, as she held the door open.

The Director's Office was even more opulent than the rest of the Palace. Prominent on the wall was an oversized portrait of Clovis, though it appeared to harmless. Arthur preemptively destroyed a pair of Clovis statues in the back of the room before they could trap the girls again, and then they filed in it for a more thorough inspection. The most obvious item of interest was the Director's desk, made of an expensive hardwood featuring intricate carvings and gaudily gilded with excessive amounts of gold leaf. It was littered with documents, some of them scripts for the Directors' plays, others architectural blueprints for his building projects, with concept art of the renovated 'Shinjuku Redevelopment Zone' displayed on an easel, which made Kallen scowl.

"What's this?" Milly asked, holding up a handful of sketches.

"It appears to be designs for female swimsuits and lingerie," Lelouch deadpanned. "Not of interest to our infiltration. Keep looking."

"That's not the same painting that I saw in his quarters…" Leila murmured. Her gaze drifted to another easel in a corner of the room…. "Wait… what? I never posed for one of his paintings! And why am I dressed like that?"

"Let me see!" Milly said excitedly.

It was a boudoir portrait of Leila, showing her reclining on a vintage couch, wearing a sheer, lacy black babydoll that did little to hide her form, with matching silk stockings, held up by garters, sheathing her legs. Golden butterfly pins held up her hair, and draped around her neck there was a necklace featuring a brilliant blue gemstone, carved into the shape of a heart, suspended by a string of pearls and surrounded by smaller glittering diamonds. The Leila in the painting had a breathtaking smile, sweetly innocent yet seductive at the same time, and her eyes seemed to invite the viewer to become lost in their amethyst depths.

"Wow… does your figure really look like that?" Milly asked.

"Enough, please…" Leila protested.

"We're wasting time," Lelouch said irritably, pointedly averting his gaze from the portrait.

"Yes, we are!" Kallen agreed.

"Come on!" Milly pouted. "So yeah, a little creepy that the Viceroy fantasizes about you like that, but other than that there's nothing to be ashamed of. It's pretty tastefully done, all things considered, and makes you look completely gorgeous, Bishop! Girls would kill to look like that! And don't think you're fooling anyone for a moment there, Zero. You're as much of a warm-blooded male as anyone, even if you'd like us to think you have veins of ice."

"I have no comment."

"While you were gawking, look at what I found," Arthur said. He had clambered up onto the Director's chair, balancing on his hind legs, and begun ransacking the drawers, using his front paws to pull them open. "Top-Secret: Code-R Monthly Report… Development of Artificial Potential and Mental Enhancement Using Breakthroughs in Cognitive Psience…" Arthur skimmed down the page… "I can't read most of these words… it's gibberish to me… most of it is redacted too…. Oh, but there's a key card here… it's labeled 'Backstage Pass'. "

"Good work, Tama!" Leila said, petting him affectionately.

"It was nothing… any good cat burglar could have done it," Arthur said modestly.

"Let's take a look," Lelouch said.

"Indeed," Leila said. "I think we'll finally figure out what my parents gave their lives for."

They headed downstairs, to another previously locked room that had resisted all attempts to open it, labeled 'Backstage - Authorized Personnel Only'.

"Here it goes," Kallen said, inserting the key card into the reader.

There was a hiss as the door opened, much unlike what one would expect of a door in a theater, and the area they stepped into next was even more out of place.

It was a laboratory.

Faceless Cognitions garbed in lab coats moved to and fro, occasionally pausing to jot something down on their clipboards. Clamped down to tables, or suspended within vats, oxygen masks strapped around their faces, were dozens of experimental subjects… people. The steady beeping of vital sign monitors filled the air, and occasionally a probe was extended into one of the subjects, sometimes injecting drugs or at other times delivering an electric shock that caused the subject to scream and thrash wildly.

"Subject FJ18 an abject failure…" they overheard one of the Cognitive Psientists read off a clipboard. "Artificially induced potential could not be contained, leading to mental shutdown and subsequent organ failure… Post-mortem dissection of the subject's brain reveals…"

Milly could no longer contain her nausea, and threw up on the lab floor.

"Who's there?" the Cognitive Psientist demanded. "Intruders in the laboratory!"

"Quick! Silence him before he can raise the alarm!"

Five Personas descended upon the Cognitive Psientist with righteous fury.

It never stood a chance.

"What the hell?" Kallen raged. "Don't tell me we're not killing the bastard after seeing this!"

"It is unforgivable…" Lelouch said. "But if this came to light… it wouldn't be just the Japanese who would revolt… it would completely disillusion many Britannians as well. They may well rise up against their own government. You can kill him afterward for all I care. I'd even support you in doing so. But keep in mind the bigger picture! We need him to confess to his crimes first! That's the whole point of a change of heart!"

"I know we're all upset by what we've seen here," Leila said, struggling to maintain her composure. "Such inhumanity… it's more monstrous than I ever imagined… but now we know exactly why my parents had to die." She took several breaths to calm herself. "We're almost at the Treasure now. Just keep it together a little longer."

The Black Knights stealthily slipped through the laboratory. There was nothing that they could do to help any of the tortured souls within, for the experimental subjects were Cognitions like the Psientists. The only mercy they would have was when they stole Clovis' Treasure, collapsing the Palace and ending the nightmare.

They finally reached the stage and the main auditorium… except it wasn't an auditorium at all, but a winding labyrinth of gilded stairs that would look at home in an Escher drawing, spiraling down into the abyss.

"The Eleventh Prince", a sign read.

"The distortion is high here! Be on your guard," Leila cautioned.

They fought their way down the steps, passing by dioramas in which scenes from Clovis' life were re-enacted by ghostly Cognitions. What started as a heartfelt, moving tribute to the memory of Lelouch vi Britannia, his sister Nunnally, and their mother, the Empress Marianne, focusing on the happy times they had shared together, slowly changed into something less wholesome and more maniacal. The orchestration grew more bombastic as the play went on, with a certain refrain eventually drowning out all of the other notes. In the second act of the play, after the assassination of Empress Marianne and the exile of her children, the title character was quickly forgotten, and the play quickly turned into a paean extolling the virtues of Director Clovis, an under-appreciated genius who was looked down upon by his family. But eventually, he would overthrow his siblings and his father, establishing a golden age of prosperity and justice, where he would be venerated by a grateful world.

"He believes this crap?" Kallen said, shaking her head incredulously.

Finally, they reached the bottom of the distortion, where Clovis' Treasure lay hidden.

It was a place that Lelouch knew all too well.

"The Aries Villa," he whispered.

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 8**

 **A/N:**

 **A lengthy chapter, involving plenty of Confidants, new and old, and some significant mood whiplash. The laboratory scene may be disturbing, but Clovis' canonical experiments may have been even more graphic.**

 **Lelouch's nightmare at the beginning of the chapter is based on Episode 12 of Code Geass R2, where Sayoko, impersonating Lelouch, sets him up with 108 dates under the mistaken belief that he is a womanizer.**

 **It occurs to me that my portrayal of Diethard may have been influenced by Kotomine Kirei, from Fate/Stay Night. Then again, this is probably because Diethard's voice IS Kotomine's... Diethard's English voice actor is Jamieson Price, and his Japanese voice actor is Nakata Joji... both of whom have voiced Kotomine before.**

 **Continuing the parallels of Clovis to Madarame, we have the door barrier and the staircases appearing from his Palace, though in slightly different forms.**

 **The scene with Kallen, Lelouch, and the hot dog vendor is taken from Episode 9 of Code Geass, though it plays out a bit differently since Lelouch doesn't have his Geass power in this story to compel the bullies to leave.**

 **Leila's portrait in the Director's Office is inspired by the "draw me like one of your French girls" scene from the movie Titanic, though less revealing. It would be anachronistic to say that Clovis based his portrait on the movie, but it's more of a visual pun on my part. After all, in the original canon, Leila was raised in France, and is hence a "French girl" (albeit Britannian by blood).**

 **I have been able to maintain a steady pace of nearly daily updates this week, as I am on vacation. This pace will inevitably slow after I am not longer on vacation, and it may be a few weeks between updates again, as I will not have nearly as much uninterrupted time to work on the story. However, I have plenty of inspiration for the coming arcs, and I think I will be able to wrap up the second Palace before the end of the weekend, so stay tuned... the showdown against Shadow Clovis awaits!**

 **Edit: It has been brought to my attention that "Count" is not an actual noble rank in either historical England, nor in Britannia itself, the closest equivalent rank being "Earl", though the wife of an Earl or a female with equivalent rank was traditionally referred to as a "Countess". Therefore, I have changed the title of Kallen's father accordingly, and I will be making the appropriate adjustments elsewhere in this story momentarily.**


	20. Blooming Viceroy

"What?" Clovis, Viceroy of Area 11 and Third Prince of Britannia raged.

"Your Highness," General Bartley frantically repeated, "Several of the Code-R experimental subjects have escaped from the lab at Narita, including the one successful subject! We aren't sure how he did it, but cameras show him vanishing into thin air!"

"He escaped into the Metaverse, then," Clovis murmured darkly. He sighed. "Contain the situation at any cost. Kill the escaped subjects on sight, and any who might have come into contact with them. They are to be considered armed and extremely dangerous."

"Your Highness, how are we to find them if they've escaped into the Metaverse? We don't know how to cross into it ourselves! They could be anywhere."

"They can't stay in the Metaverse forever. They'll have to return to reality eventually… and when they do…". The Viceroy clenched a fist.

"Not a word of this to anyone, Bartley! If this gets out, I'll be ruined!"

"Understood, your Highness!"

Clovis put his head in his hands. Why did it seem that everything was falling apart at once? First that news article that was circulating on the net… it was very carefully worded, speaking of corruption in his administration while stopping short of accusing the Viceroy of embezzlement, but how had something like that got past the censors? Then word of the breakout at Narita…. What was next?"

There was a knock on the door. "Clovis? May I come in?" Leila's voice asked.

"I'm busy right now!"

"I really think you should see this…"

What had her so worried?

Taking a deep breath, Clovis composed himself, so as to appear the ever perfect gentleman. Even in such trying times, he was still the marquis actor of Area 11.

"Very well, Leila," he said, turning off the speaker and pressing a button to reject any incoming calls. "I'm sorry for being so short with you. You may come in. What appears to be the matter, my love?"

"We received this," she said, her voice trembling as she handed him a red card emblazoned with the image of a helmeted black chess piece.

"What is that?"

"I think it will be easier to understand if you read it yourself…"

"Let me see," Clovis said, holding out his hand. She gave the card to him silently.

"To Viceroy Clovis la Britannia, the great sinner of Vanity, who erects monument after monument to hide his own insecurities and dishonors those he claims to cherish: We know of your plans to commit genocide against the people of Shinjuku and of your inhumane research. Therefore, we have decided to make you confess your crimes with your own mouth. We will steal your distorted desires without fail. This will be done within a day's time. Signed, The Black Knights."

"What is this slander?" He erupted.

"It's not true, is it Clovis?" Leila asked, looking tearful.

"Of course not, Leila," he said after a moment, gently smiling at her. "The Elevens will come up with any manner of fabrication to weaken Britannia and sow distrust amongst us." He stroked her cheek. "We must stay strong. Put it from your mind. As Viceroy, I am the sworn protector of all citizens of Area 11, and I shall see to it that these miscreants are put down. The truth shall prevail!"

xXx

The room flickered around Leila, and she found herself face to face with Shadow Clovis, her cognitive double at his side.

"I'll deal with you for this treachery soon enough," Shadow Clovis snarled at her. "Yes, let the truth win out… my truth!" He laughed. "Come, Black Knights. Steal my Treasure if you can! There will be no plays to remember you… I'll write you out of history! All hail Britannia, and the glory of my reign to come!"

The distortion faded, and Clovis was back to his ordinary self.

"I'm so sorry that you had to see that, Leila," he said. "Will you be alright?"

"I'm stronger than you give me credit for, Clovis."

"Of course. Your fortitude is commendable." He shook his head. "I'm sorry that we must part like this, but this matter requires my undivided attention. I'm sure you understand."

She nodded and turned to leave. "May you receive all that which is your due, Clovis."

xXx

"This is it!" Lelouch shouted. "Today we steal the Viceroy's heart and put an end to his madness! Our target is his Treasure, materialized in the Aries Villa at the bottom of his Theater! The Palace will be on high alert, but failure is not an option! Follow my lead! The layout is the same as the real Aries Villa, so I know it like the back of my hand! Is everyone ready?"

"Yes!" Tama, Queen, Diamond, and Bishop responded in unison.

"They let us begin the heist!"

The Black Knights proceeded swiftly through the lab and down the stairs, quickly overpowering Shadow Clovis' increased security and leaving them behind with smoke bombs stockpiled from Nina.

"Isn't it a shame, Clovis, that we're not just figments of your mind?" Lelouch smirked as they reached the Aries Villa. "We're very real, as you soon will find…"

A pair of Shadows guarded the grand staircase in the Aries Villa, where his mother had been murdered, but he couldn't let past tragedy deter him from his goal now. In a darkly ironic re-enactment of that event, bullet fire from the Black Knights smashed through the windows, forcing the Shadows to take cover, but that was just a distraction as Suzuka Gozen plummeted in from above and eliminated the Shadows in seconds. At the same time, smoke bombs and handmade firecrackers were being set off on the other side of the Villa, drawing out the guards to investigate the commotion.

"We're in, Zero!"

"Excellent. The Treasure is just ahead."

"My heart is racing!" Milly beamed.

"Here it is!" Arthur proclaimed triumphantly.

"Another painting of Clovis? That's his Treasure? I know he's vain," Kallen said, "but really?"

"I was sure it was going to be - " Leila started.

Lelouch held up a hand. "It's alright… I expected something like this… prepare for battle."

"Huh?" Milly said.

"That's not the Treasure," Lelouch replied. "He thinks he can trick us by moving it. He'll have the real Treasure on his person. Where better for him to keep it safe? As you were saying, Bishop, what is the real the Treasure most likely?"

"That portrait of you, your sister, and your mother."

"Exactly. Though he since became lost in his own vainglorious desires, Clovis' descent into darkness started with our exile and supposed deaths. What better to symbolize his distortion than a representation of his lost family?"

"So where will we find Clovis?" Kallen asked.

"He's most likely cutting off our escape at the stage even as we speak. It's fine… we've been through this before. We beat Leviathan, didn't we?"

"I don't want to imagine what his true form is," Milly frowned.

"We'll find out soon enough," he replied.

"What do you want us to do with this then," Milly asked, gesturing at the false Treasure.

"Just leave it here. No sense in having it encumber us."

xXx

"You went to such lengths and didn't even retrieve my Treasure?" Shadow Clovis taunted, waiting for them on the stage, Cognitive Leila at his side.

"Nice try, Viceroy," Lelouch smirked. "You've been gracious enough to bring your Treasure right to us."

"Clever," Shadow Clovis sneered. "But you won't claim it. I'll end your miserable little lives here. What do you think of that, Leila?"

"Once you crush them, you will receive everything which is your due, dear Clovis" Cognitive Leila said lovingly.

Leila removed her mask. "And I thought I meant that you would be made to repent for your crimes when I said that."

"Lies, witch!"

"But you know, Clovis," Lelouch said, smirking, "Aren't you at all curious who the leader of the Black Knights, who has been a thorn in your side since we entered your Palace, is before you kill us?"

"I hardly see how it makes any difference," Shadow Clovis replied.

"You'd be surprised, dear brother," Lelouch said, removing his own mask, and making a dramatic bow. "Lelouch vi Britannia, Seventeenth Prince of Britannia, at your service. I've returned from the depths of hell, brother, and I'm here to change everything."

"No… that's impossible…" Shadow Clovis said…. "You…"

"Thought I was dead? As you were meant to. But I don't die that easily."

"Y-you're really alive?" Shadow Clovis asked. "I'm not seeing things? L-Lelouch… I am overjoyed! Is Nunnally alive as well? But first you must leave these riffraff at once! Then we can return to the homeland and -"

"Why, so you can kill my friends?"

"They're thieves, Lelouch! They are beneath your company as a prince! This is all just a misunderstanding between us!"

"Was your plan to wipe out the Shinjuku Ghetto a misunderstanding, brother?" Lelouch asked bitterly. "How about your precious Code-R? I'm sure your victims will all agree that it's just a misunderstanding. And Leila's parents? No, you weren't gloating about orchestrating their deaths, were you? I'm sure they just died from a car accident."

"You're right…" Shadow Clovis said, dropping to his knees and hanging his head. "I'm sorry, Lelouch." He wrung his hands before him, pulling at his hair. "I don't know where I lost my way!" The Viceroy's Shadow let out a heart-wrenching sob. "I won't make excuses for my crimes, Lelouch! But you and I are still blood! I surrender! Can't you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

"You're not going to fall for that, are you, Zero?" Kallen asked.

"It is quite the performance," Leila said, "but overdone."

"We see through your act now," Milly added coldly.

"Crocodile tears, that's what they call them", Arthur smirked.

"Hand over your Treasure, brother, and we'll talk," Lelouch said, his eyes boring into Shadow Clovis' golden ones.

Something flared around Shadow Clovis, and his expression suddenly changed into an ugly one, all signs of false contrition gone. "Never! I'm sorry, Lelouch, but it seems that you'll have to die for real this time! But don't worry. You at least will have the finest memorial in Area 11, which will be remembered as my architectural masterpiece!" He began laughing uncontrollably, and dark energy swirled around him.

"Here he comes!'

"Unghhh… arraghh…. ahhhhhhhhh!" Shadow Clovis screamed before he was ripped in two, blood spraying everywhere.

"Huh?" Milly said, taking a step back. "Did he really just - "

"No," Leila said. "Look!"

The blood congealed, forming two large, oversized masks, floating side by side, one white and one black, joined by a red ribbon. Both bore Clovis' visage, but Clovis's expression on the white mask was joyous, while his expression on the black mask was contorted into a hideous scowl. A Comedy Mask and a Tragedy Mask…

"I am the Demon of Vanity," both masks said in unison, "Clovis Azazel la Britannia. I shall tolerate no imperfections in my work!"

"You really are two-faced through and through," Leila said coldly.

"Magnificent!" Cognitive Leila cried.

"Oh, shut up!" Kallen shouted back. "Suzuka Gozen!" Her Persona impaled the false Leila with its blade. The imposter only had enough time to widen its eyes in surprise before dissipating into black flames and vanishing.

"You'll pay for that!" Azazel hissed. Azazel's Tragedy Mask lunged forward toward Kallen, suddenly revealing sharp rows of teeth, while his Comedy Mask conjured multiple small whirlwinds around the Black Knights. Kallen nimbly avoided the Tragedy Mask's bite, but was buffeted by the Comedy Mask's winds. Milly was knocked to her feet by the sudden gale, but Arthur, Leila, and Lelouch remained standing. The whirlwind that would have struck Lelouch bounced off of Ippon-Datara, striking the Comedy Mask, but the spell faded away and was harmlessly absorbed back into the Comedy Mask.

"That's so unfair!" Arthur cried.

"Whoever said life was fair, alley cat?" Azazel sneered, lashing out with the ribbon and wrapping it around Arthur's foot, before using it to throw Arthur to the ground.

"Then take this!" Kallen shouted, Suzuka Gozen rushing forward once again. Her Persona unleashed a flurry of rapid strikes, almost too fast for the eye to see. The Comedy Mask reeled, but the Tragedy Mask laughed off her attack like it was nothing.

"You're the hot-headed one. I think you need to cool your heels, rebel," Azazel laughed. A block of ice crystallized around Suzuka Gozen, immobilizing the Persona, and leaving Kallen shivering uncontrollably.

"Jeanne d'Arc!" Leila cried, healing energy settling upon her allies.

They barely had a chance to get to their feet before the Tragedy Mask lunged forward again, forcing the Black Knights to leap back. At the same time, the Comedy Mask laughed, "Let's see how well you burn, witch!", and Leila was struck by a fireball, setting the hem of her dress on fire.

"Ow! That's hot!" She dived to the ground, attempting a stop drop and roll to extinguish the flames.

Lelouch frowned. This wasn't good. It seemed that Azazel's Comedy Mask had enough elements at its disposal to target all of his teammate's weaknesses, and they would be in trouble if the Tragedy Mask got a good bite in. More than that, it appeared that the Comedy Mask absorbed magic, while the Tragedy Mask nullified physical attacks.

But there was always a way to plan around his enemy's strengths.

"Apsaras!" He called out, first casting a barrier against electric attacks around himself to cover his Persona's own weakness - and not a moment too soon, as the Comedy Mask zapped him with Zio no sooner than the barrier had been erected. He still felt a small jolt pass through him, but it had saved him from suffering serious damage.

His next priority was Leila, as she was the group's most skilled healer. Technically Lelouch could rival her healing abilities with his improved and expanded range of Personas, but he would need to focus most of his efforts on shielding his allies from the Comedy Mask's spells. A wall against fire settled around her, freeing Leila to focus on getting their allies back into the fight rather than avoiding being burned alive.

"Queen, Diamond, and Tama, focus on the Comedy Mask! Use physical attacks!"

"Got it! Suzuka Gozen! Assault Dive!"

"Understood!" Milly cracked her whip eagerly.

"Master Cat!" Arthur's Persona thrust forward with its rapier.

"This isn't funny!" The Comedy Mask shrieked as it was knocked to the ground under the successive strikes from the Black Knights. Lelouch used the lull in its offense to cast another pair of barriers over his teammates, an ice wall to shield Kallen, and a wind wall to cover Milly. He couldn't maintain more barriers at once, but Arthur was small and easily able to dodge many attacks.

"Switch to magic!" He ordered. "Target the Tragedy Mask!"

"Roger!"

Fire, wind, radiation, and psychokinetic power converged on the Tragedy Mask.

"Argh!" Azazel screamed in agony as his Tragedy Mask fell to the floor.

"The enemy is down! Launch an all-out attack!"

"Don't think you've won just yet!" Azazel shouted as his two halves managed to rise above the barrage, battered but intact. "You'll find that I can be quite charming when I want to be!"

The Comedy Mask released a pink mist that spread across the stage.

"I don't like the look of that!" Arthur shouted.

"Oh, Clovis," Leila sighed. That wasn't the Cognitive Leila. That was the real Leila.

"You're so handsome, your Highness" Milly fawned.

"I don't know what I was thinking trying to fight against you and Britannia," Kallen said, her eyes misted over.

Kallen would never say that of her own free will.

"The girls are brainwashed!" Arthur yelped.

"I'll let you three beauties handle this," Azazel laughed. "Now excuse me while I heal those injuries that you so thoughtlessly inflicted upon me."

"Your wish is my command," Leila, Milly, and Kallen said in unison.

'Suzuka Gozen!"

"Ippon-Datara!"

Kallen's Persona rushed at him, outstretching its clawed hand.

"Now!"

Ippon-Datara swung his hammer, striking Suzuka Gozen's wrist with great force before the deadly claw could close around him and bathe him with radiation.

"Agh!" Kallen groaned as her Persona was struck. It appeared he had broken her wrist as well. It was unfortunate, but broken bones could be healed. Disintegration at the hands of Suzuka Gozen's nuclear fury could not.

"How unchivalrous, Lelouch, striking a woman like that!" Azazel taunted.

But Kallen was nothing if not tenacious, and being brainwashed by Azazel could not change that. Suzuka Gozen spun around with its blade in its other hand. Ippon-Datara's hammer was too heavy for Lelouch to be able to raise it to intercept Suzuka Gozen's attack in time, but the embittered blacksmith had another tool in its other hand: a pair of blacksmith's tongs. They didn't have enough mass to stop Suzuka Gozen's swing, but they didn't need to, instead directing the blade off-course.

Suzuka Gozen fell back, while Jeanne d'Arc appeared to heal Kallen, which left Milly to take up the offense on Azazel's behalf.

"Medea!"

The sorceress materialized and took to the air, once again spreading her cloak like wings. Medea chanted and conjured fireballs into existence along the length of her wings, before releasing them with the command, "Maragi!"

The fireballs rained down rapid-fire, erupting as they struck the ground and leaving singe marks on the stage. Thankfully, Ippon-Datara was resistant to fire, perhaps due to his nature as a blacksmith, so Lelouch escaped mostly unscathed, while Arthur darted to a safe distance.

"Tama, knock Medea out of the sky!"

"But - "

"Do it!"

"I'm sorry, Diamond! Garu!"

Thankfully, the barrier protecting Milly had worn off, or else Arthur's spell would have had little effect. But it struck true.

"You little!" Medea shrieked, as Milly fell to her knees.

"Not bad," the Comedy Mask grinned.

"The tragedy of having to fight your friends," the Tragedy Mask sneered.

"While your little harem has been rather disappointing, we've saved the best for last," both halves of Azazel said in unison. "Leila! Kill Lelouch, and all will be forgiven!"

"I won't disappoint you again, dear Clovis," she replied slavishly. She ripped off her mask and let out a cry. "Jeanne d' Arc! Psi!"

A dizzying array of colors swirled around Lelouch. Ippon-Datara had no innate defenses against psychic attacks, and he was forced to bear the brunt of Leila's.

Besides the psychokinetic force of the blow, which was like a fist in his gut, Lelouch experienced a most curious sensation - that of Leila's mind brushing against his, probing his defenses. Fortifying them, he brought into his mind's eye the mental of image of a line of black pawns, arrayed so that they could protect each other, with noble pieces placed to capture any white pieces that might take them.

"Is that how you want to do this?" Leila's disembodied voice asked telepathically. "A rematch? Then I shall oblige." Her mental probe shifted, taking the form of an opposing line of white chess pieces. Her pieces advanced swiftly, ignoring the rules, moving two or three at a time, without regard for whether they were lost or not. Whenever he captured one of her pawns, a new one would replace it on the board. It took all of his concentration to hold off her onslaught.

"This isn't you, Leila," he told her. "It's beneath you to cheat. And don't you remember what you said to me? "What good is victory if you've thrown away everything to achieve it?"

"Silence!" Leila shouted in his mind, her voice now layered with that of Azazel. "I'll avenge my defeat, and I'll have you at my mercy, Lelouch!"

"You'd kill me over a chess match? Now I really know I'm not talking to Leila. More than any of us, you were opposed to the idea of killing."

The mental onslaught relented for a moment.

"What are you doing, Leila?" Azazel demanded. "Finish him off!"

"You can do it, Leila. You can beat him. Remember why you're here. Remember your parents."

"Leila, if you do not - " Azazel continued threateningly.

"Get out of my head, Viceroy!" she shouted.

Suddenly, they were back on the stage. Lelouch felt himself double over, still sore from the force of Leila's spell, but there was a triumphant grin on his face.

Azazel screamed as Leila's psychic attack was turned upon him, thrashing wildly. Unable to maintain his concentration, Azazel's hold over Kallen and Milly waned.

"What was I-" Milly said, blinking.

"You'll pay for humiliating me like that!" Kallen snarled, driving Suzuka Gozen's blade into the Comedy Mask.

Healing energy from Arthur wrapped itself around Lelouch, and he rose to his feet again.

The Tragedy Mask snarled, shooting out its ribbon and wrapping it around Leila's neck, lifting her off the ground and squeezing tightly. "You could have had everything! You could have been my princess! But you're an ungrateful traitor! Die, like your parents!"

Lelouch wasn't having that. Darting forward, he took his dagger in his hand, and sliced through the ribbon with one stroke. Cut off from the rest of Azazel's body, the ribbon dissolved as if into a mist, leaving Leila gasping as she caught her breath.

"It's time to finish this, brother."

"You are so right, Lelouch," Azazel replied. "Every play has its surprises, but now the curtain must fall. Goodbye, Lelouch."

A purple haze spread out from the Tragedy Mask, and suddenly Lelouch found himself lost amid the darkness. cut off from the other Black Knights.

"Do you see, Lelouch?" Azazel's voice echoed from around him, every word suddenly like a crushing weight. "You've lost… No one can defeat me, or Britannia…"

It was foolish to even try.

"Tell me, Lelouch. What did you really think you would accomplish? In the end, you are but a stepping stone to my own glory." Azazel laughed. "The Demon of Vanity I may be, but which of us is more vainglorious? To think you could do anything to change this world on your own is the height of conceit!"

That wasn't true… was it? But it was getting hard to think clearly. Lelouch clutched his head, trying desperately to remember.

"It's useless, brother," Azazel sneered. "Despair can be as much a part of art as any emotion. This is some of my finest work yet. Shouldn't you be honored that I saved it for you? Now drown in it!"

Azazel had won. Any strategy he tried to grasp slipped from his mind.

"Alone and abandoned, the miserable thief meets his just end. Poetic, don't you think?"

There was no way out of this. He had failed, not only himself, but Nunnally too. He couldn't protect her. She would be heartbroken. And for what? Maybe it would have been better if he had never…

"Zero!" a distant voice called out.

That voice!

"Snap out of it!" another voice called.

"Don't you remember what you just told me?" A third voice cried. "You can beat him!"

"This isn't a time to give up, lie down, and be a scaredy-cat!"

Slowly, Lelouch rose.

'Impossible…" Azazel hissed. "Silence, all of you! He is finished! I have won! Without him, you're nothing but a ragtag band that would fall apart at a moment's notice!"

"You're wrong, brother. Chained though I may be to Hell itself, I shall see my justice through to the end, as long as I have them beside me. Arsene!"

His original Persona laughed maniacally, the darkness dissipating as the demonic gentleman thief spread its wings.

"Eiha!"

Arsene's curse struck Azazel's Tragedy Mask, followed by spells from the other Black Knights, save Kallen, who was keeping the Comedy Masked pinned to the floor with Suzuka Gozen's blade.

"Good to have you back, Zero!" Milly cried with relief.

"It got Tama too, but he snapped out of it pretty quick," Kallen explained.

"Are we ready?" Leila asked.

He nodded.

The Black Knights unleashed their all-out-attack against Azazel.

The Demon of Vanity gave one last scream, and was defeated. In Azazel's place knelt Shadow Clovis in his human form once again, his will broken.

"How could I be defeated?" Shadow Clovis gasped. He looked up at Lelouch. "No… I already know the answer… I never could defeat you Lelouch…. Not at chess, and certainly not now."

"Hand over your Treasure, brother."

"Please, Lelouch…," Shadow Clovis begged. "I won't survive if I do that…. The Black Mask…"

"Don't listen to him, Zero. He's lying again," Kallen said, folding her arms.

"No, I actually think he's telling the truth this time," Leila said.

"Who is this 'Black Mask'?" Lelouch asked.

"The assassin who I hired… The one responsible for the mental shutdowns…"

"You mean the Black Mask is the one who killed my parents?" Leila asked.

"On my orders, yes," Shadow Clovis nodded weakly.

"Who is the Black Mask?" Lelouch pressed.

"I couldn't tell you, even if I wanted to," Shadow Clovis. Kallen glared at him. "Please!" He cried, putting up his hands. "I don't know! But he'll kill me!"

"The only ones who should kill, Viceroy, are those who are prepared to be killed," Lelouch replied coldly.

"You can't just let him kill me!" Shadow Clovis moaned. "You need me to confess to my crimes, don't you? I can't do that if I'm dead!"

"He has a point," Milly admitted.

"We can't just let this assassin remain on the loose," Leila agreed. "Otherwise more people will die."

"We will hunt down this Black Mask and bring him to justice," Lelouch said with resolve. "You have my word, brother."

"Thank you, Lelouch… I can rest easier now," Shadow Clovis said, his expression relaxing. "Very well. You can have my Treasure. I'll face the consequences for my crimes, whatever they may be."

He produced a painting, and handed it over to the Black Knights. As they had predicted, it was a group portrait of Lelouch, Nunnally, and Empress Marianne.

"Now, go," Shadow Clovis said. "This theater will collapse soon without that Treasure… I'll follow shortly and return to my real self. Say hello to Nunnally for me…"

The Palace began rumbling around them, and as much as Lelouch would have liked to spend a few minutes to interrogate Shadow Clovis while they were there and see if he could gain any further insights into his mother's murder, they didn't have that time. If Clovis knew anything, it would all come out during his confession, along with his other crimes, anyway.

"Okay, we've got the Treasure. Let's get out of here!" Milly shouted.

They rushed through the lab, as vats shattered around them, spilling chemicals, and equipment overloaded and exploded. Moving into the halls of the theater, holes opened up in the floor around them, and chandeliers fell without warning.

"Almost there!"

The Black Knights cleared the perimeter as the Theater of Vanity went into its final death throes behind them.

"Back to the real world!"

The world twisted around them, sweeping them out of the Metaverse.

xXx

"They should be clear by now," Shadow Clovis said to himself. "I should be going too."

"You're not going anywhere, Viceroy," a distorted voice said, stepping from the shadows.

"You! Please, I'll…"

There was a muffled sound, and the room fell silent.

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 7**

xXx

The fight against Azazel had been far closer than the Black Knights would have liked. Azazel might not have been a gigantic monster like Leviathan, but he had tested their bonds in ways unlike any challenge they had faced thus far, and they had emerged stronger than ever for it.

"Most impressive, Trickster," Igor told Lelouch in the Velvet Room. "You have triumphed over your half-brother, which will soon send a message that your foes cannot ignore. But Ragnarok still looms beyond the horizon. There will be far more trials to come. Your true rehabilitation begins now. Will you be able to inspire the masses to rise up and open their eyes to the truth? Or will they condemn you, and continue mindlessly marching like lemmings to ruin? I will continue to watch your career as a thief and your rehabilitation with great interest."

The power of the Fool resonated, and Lelouch felt slightly stronger.

"It is done. Until we meet again, Trickster."

xXx

The days continued to rush by. There was no official word from Clovis yet, save rumors that the Viceroy had been feeling unwell and had retreated into his chambers. Leila confirmed these rumors for them. He refused to see anyone, taking meals only through his door, and was said to spend much of his days weeping.

They would have to wait to be absolutely sure, but it appeared that the change of Clovis' heart had been successful.

Lelouch hung Clovis' Treasure in his room inn the Ashford Academy, a reminder of happier times and everything he fought for: to avenge his mother and protect his sister. It was a shame that Nunnally couldn't see it, but then again, that would raise more questions than it was worth. It wasn't like anyone else other than Sayoko went in there, and she was already in on his plans.

Lelouch continued to meet with his confidants, from training with Sayoko, to hanging out with Rivalz, to working in the lab with Nina or doing Student Council paperwork with Milly, to folding cranes with Nunnally at night, to arranging secret meetings with Diethard and Jeremiah. The former Purist leader expressed some faint misgivings at seeing the state that the Viceroy he had once pledged to serve had been reduced to, but affirmed that his loyalty was first and foremost to Lelouch now, and expressed the hope that he would be able to meet Lady Nunnally one day.

And so the day of truth arrived.

 **Days Until Shinjuku is Demolished: 0**

xXx

"Attention, all students. By Royal Proclamation of Viceroy Clovis, Third Prince of Britannia, a special assembly will be held at 9:00 a.m. today to hear an emergency address to the nation. Attendance at this assembly shall be compulsory."

The Ashford Academy gymnasium was packed, with row after row of students standing at attention, herded into the building to hear Clovis' address.

"What do you think this is about?" Lelouch overheard students murmuring.

"Do you think it was another Eleven terrorist attack?" Nina nervously asked Kallen, not realizing the irony of whom exactly she was speaking to.

"Your attention please," Headmaster Ruben Ashford said, looking tired. "The Viceroy's address will begin momentarily."

A projector flared to life, casting the image of the broadcast onto a screen that had been drawn down over the stage. Britannia's national anthem, "All Hail Britannia," blared over the speakers, a march with a male chorus.

"Truth and Hope in Our Fatherland, and Death to Every Foe! Our Soldiers Will Not Pause to Rest, We Vow Our Loyalty!"

Lelouch clenched his fist. He hated this song, as he did all things symbolizing the Britannian regime.

"Old Traditions they Will Abide, Arise Young Heroes! Our Past Inspires Noble Deeds, All Hail Britannia!"

"Live from the Government Bureau, Hi-TV brings the Third Prince's unexpected address to all citizens of Area 11!"

"Announcing his Royal Highness, Prince Clovis," a voice said, as Clovis, in his full Viceroyal regalia, took the podium.

"Citizens of Area 11… Japan!" Clovis began, causing some murmurs amongst the assembled students. "I come to you bearing grave news! I am here to account for the crimes of one who has at every step of the way deceived you, defrauded you, and committed atrocities that I tremble to speak of, all for his own selfish advancement and futile attempts at glory!" Clovis clutched at his heart. "This most vile of criminals of whom I speak is none other than myself!"

Gasps could be heard from the student body.

At this point, orders would certainly be going out to most networks to cut the broadcast immediately. But Hi-TV kept the broadcast running. Lelouch grinned. Excellent work, Diethard.

"Some of you may have already heard of the Black Knights," Clovis continued. "They stole my corrupted heart and now I am here to confess all of my sins to you! I cannot bear the guilt of them any longer!"

"I have ordered the demolition of countless Japanese neighborhoods, in the name of urban renewal, but I will now call it what it truly is: genocide. Most recently, I ordered the Shinjuku Ghetto to be razed. This order has now been rescinded. I know most of my Britannian subjects have no love for the Japanese, but I have also stolen from the treasury, embezzling funds for secret projects. The research done in these projects is so twisted and depraved that I shudder to think that I had any part in them, but they were carried out with my full knowledge and approval! Those with weak constitutions may wish to stop listening to this broadcast, to spare yourselves of these horrors, but if you can brave it, I insist that you listen! Unethical, inhumane experiments were conducted on hundreds of human subjects, Japanese and Britannians alike, kidnapped off the streets and brutally tortured and murdered for my selfish curiosity and vain desire for ever greater power!" Clovis reached a climax in his speech. "The name of this project was Code-R, and it-"

Clovis suddenly clutched his chest, an agonized expression on his face, as if he had been struck.

"A-Agh… ah…" Clovis groaned incoherently, his eyes bulging as he twitched spasmodically.

"Is the Viceroy having a heart attack on national television?!" A girl gasped in panic.

Clovis' eyes rolled into the back of his head, and his head fell down limply onto the podium, coughing up black ichor.

"Viceroy Clovis!"

Clovis breathed weakly, and then lurched upright again, but something was profoundly wrong. The Viceroy's movements were zombie-like. Only the scleras of his eyes could be seen, and more black ichor oozed from his every orifice.

Screams of horror echoed throughout the gymnasium. Lelouch could hear many students retching as their breakfasts vacated their stomachs, filling the room with an overpowering, nauseating stench. Even he soon found that he couldn't contain the contents of his stomach, which came spewing out.

The broadcast finally was pulled, and was replaced with a static image showing a beautiful field of flowers on a sunny day.

"We are experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by."

That wasn't a heart attack.

That was a mental shutdown.

Clovis la Britannia, Third Prince of the Empire and Viceroy of Area 11, was dead.

He was glad Nunnally couldn't see it.

"I-I d-don't believe it-," a student nearby blubbered uncontrollably. "T-the-the B-Black Knight… They… they… they murdered the Viceroy!"

"Th-those things he was saying… were… were they true?"

The Black Knights now had no lack of notoriety.

But Lelouch sensed their mission was going to only get harder.

 **A/N:**

 **I drew upon several influences for the Shadow Clovis / Azazel boss fight. The most obvious is Madarame, whose role Clovis largely occupies in this story, who also split into a form with multiple parts and is considered a wake-up call boss in P5 for his ability to easily exploit the party's elemental weaknesses, which Clovis inherited as well. However, there was also a significant influence from Shadow Kanji in Persona 4, who provided the inspiration for status ailments that targeted only one gender or the other, Brainwash/Charm for the girls in this story, and Despair for the males, which I also thought fit the themes of Comedy and Tragedy rather well. Kunino-Sagiri in Persona 4 is also briefly able to take over multiple party members at the end of his fight. As for the depiction of Lelouch while under the influence of Despair, I modeled it partly off its depiction in Persona 4 the Animation, when used by Shadow Mitsuo, but I think a far stronger influence was the Id-Return scene in Fire: Emblem Awakening. The power of friendship getting the hero out of a bind may be a cliche, but that's how Persona rolls. Hopefully, drawing inspiration from these different sources kept the fight fresh and surprising, rather than being a straight rehash of Madarame's boss fight.**

 **Yup, Clovis is dead. I usually think it's inconsistent with Lelouch's character to let Clovis live in Code Geass stories, unless he has an extraordinarily good reason to do so, which he arguably does in this story, but as I said in the last chapter, my version of Lelouch was still perfectly willing to off Clovis after he had served his purpose. He may have a good case of adaptational heroism in the story, thanks to his increased need for the support of his friends, but Lelouch is still an antiheroic character at heart and hardly a selfless paragon of virtue. Besides, did any of you really think the Conspiracy would allow Clovis to live after he started blabbing about Code-R?**

 **Lelouch threw up at the end there, as I thought that would be a natural reaction to Clovis' death, especially in so graphic a manner and considering that he did the same in canon after murdering Clovis himself.**

 **Next up, Interlude, Interrogation, Part 4, and the start of the 3rd Palace arc! As I said, my rate of updates is likely to slow for a while to once every few weeks as my vacation draws to an end, but I hope you will stick around, and maybe leave a review. The feedback, positive or negative, all helps!**


	21. Interlude - Interrogation, Part 4

"So… you're telling me that this 'Black Mask' of yours murdered Clovis, is that correct?" Cornelia asked. "A convenient story. I don't suppose you can tell me who this 'Black Mask' is?"

Lelouch wracked his mind, trying to remember the assassin's identity. He still came up blank. He had the beginnings of a strange feeling about the Black Mask though…. Something seemed vaguely wrong about that question as worded… But what?

"Useless," Cornelia snapped. "Well, perhaps you can still fill in some details about your next heist."

"After Clovis' confession to all manner of crimes and his murder, Area 11 was in an uproar. With the colonial administration suddenly bereft of leadership and public opinion sharply divided, rebel groups saw their opportunity to strike while we were vulnerable. Most prominent among them was Lieutenant Colonel Josui Kusakabe of the Japan Liberation Front, a radical even among his fellow terrorists. She pulled out a photograph from her file. It showed a broad-shouldered Japanese man with black hair, disheveled on the sides, a goatee, somewhat thick eyebrows, and a scowling expression. "Yet his plans were foiled. Was that your doing, Zero?"

Kusukabe fit the profile of those the Black Knights targeted well enough, that was true. But….

"No," Lelouch said finally. "Someone else got to Kusakabe first."

"Your 'Black Mask'?"

He shrugged, drawing another blank. "Probably, but I don't know for sure."

Cornelia sighed. "You're not making this easy, Zero." She shuffled her papers. "Because of the chaos that you had caused here, I was redeployed in the middle of my campaign against the Middle Eastern Federation to serve as the Viceroy of Area 11. I hope you're pleased with that. The incompetence of the officers left behind and the loss in morale of my men from having their commanding officer taken away from them meant that sieges of the Eighteens' strongholds took needlessly long and cost the lives of many good Britannian soldiers. They had to bring in Schneizel to sort out that mess," she said bitterly.

Lelouch couldn't help but smirk at that. To think that the Black Knights had such a far-reaching effect so early! The Middle Eastern Federation may have fallen in time, but they had successfully delayed Britannia's expansion.

"Look at you!" Cornelia said, contemptuously. "An unrepentant murderer! You as good as killed those men yourself, even if you didn't murder Clovis. Those were my men!"

"And you're not a murderer? How many have you killed in war, oh 'Goddess of Victory'?" He paused. "How many families will never see their fathers, mothers, or beloved siblings because of you? You know there's another nickname for you…. "The Witch of Brit-"

"Silence!" Cornelia raged. "You forget your place yet again, Zero!"

"My apologies, Viceroy Cornelia," he replied, not actually sorry at all. "My point is we can't get ourselves hung up on which of us is more of a hypocrite when there is so much more at stake."

"That remains to be seen, or if it's just the ravings of a lunatic," she said coldly. "But we digress." She took out four more photos, and spread them on the table. "You continued to expand your contacts all while you plotted your next major heist."

"You made contact with Kaguya Sumeragi, the young head of one of the Six Houses of Kyoto," some time around or before the traditional Eleven holiday of Tanabata. She pushed one of the photographs in front of Lelouch. It showed a girl - he couldn't call her a woman, not when she was clearly just into her teenage years, with long black hair, green eyes that somehow reminded him of Suzaku's, and long black hair, wearing a fancy pink, purple, and white kimono with red trim, as well as a golden circlet around her forehead. He had a feeling that she should seem much more familiar to him that she did, but the drugs were still affecting his recollections.

"Don't try to deny it," Cornelia continued. "The fact that you met with her on Tanabata is well-documented by our intelligence. What were you trying to accomplish?" The Viceroy leaned forward. "Perhaps you planned to use her to gain influence over Kyoto for your own ends?"

Lelouch could only look on at Kaguya's photo in confusion. Gaining influence over the Six Houses of Kyoto was a sensible goal for any would-be revolutionary. But what was he doing with her in public during the Japanese Star Festival? She was much too young for him…. Perhaps he would remember as he recounted the events leading up to that meeting…

Cornelia removed Kaguya's picture, and replaced it with one of a boy in an Ashford Academy high school uniform, perhaps a year younger than himself, with light brown hair and violet eyes.

"Rolo Haliburton," Cornelia read off. "Transfer student to Ashford Academy, 15 years old. By all accounts, something of a prodigy. In a short time, earned a reputation for working as a private investigator, independently looking into several of the mental shutdown incidents, and cooperated with local and viceroyal authorities to this end. He joined your Student Council, and you began spending time with him, though whether you were feeding him false information to sabotage the investigation or if you managed to subvert his loyalties remains to be seen."

Lelouch knew he would have certainly fed Rolo false information if given the opportunity. Seeing the photo jogged his memory a bit… Rolo had indeed become one of his confidants, that was true. But had Rolo defected to join the Black Knights eventually or not? That, he couldn't recall just yet.

"Onto your next major target…the man known to the public as 'The Black King,'" Cornelia said, moving the third photo in front of Lelouch. The Black King was a heavyset man, even moreso than Kusakabe, and had dark skin like Villetta's. He had a beard, also like Kusakabe, though his was brown, with a thicker goatee, and extended into thin sideburns, but his hair, slicked back, was blonde and obviously dyed. The Black King wore an expensive brown suit, obviously tailored to his girth, over a red vest and white undershirt, with a blue bowtie around his neck.

"This man was a prominent member of Area 11's mafia," Cornelia continued. " He controlled much of the Tokyo Settlement's criminal underworld. Due to… circumstances beyond my control, even my hands were tied more in this matter than I care to admit. As much as I cannot forgive you for what happened to my men in Area 18, or your involvement in Clovis' death, one way or the other, I believe I owe you a small debt, Zero, for taking care of that loathsome gangster for me. And so as much as you have tried my patience this evening, I am willing to keep listening to you, at least for a while. Do you understand?"

Lelouch nodded, feeling the power of Judgement growing with him.

"How exactly did you take down the Black King where even I failed?" Cornelia asked softly. "And more importantly…"

She whipped the final photo into position, showing a face that Lelouch knew all too well. There as now a terrible wrath in Cornelia's eyes, as if threatening dire consequences if he even thought about lying to her.

"What does all of this have to do with my beloved sister, Euphemia?!"

 **A/N:**

 **The third arc begins, and two chapters in one day (though as an interlude, this is a shorter one)!**


	22. A Hunter Not Unbeknownst to Its Prey

"Did we really make the right decision?" Milly asked anxiously, gathered with the other Black Knights, sans Leila, in Mementos. As the late Viceroy's supposed girlfriend, there was, in spite of the crimes Clovis had confessed to, the strong expectation that she would appear at his state funeral and appear at least a little sorry about his death, so she was already on a plane to Pendragon.

"The Viceroy had it coming," Kallen replied coldly. "Death was what he deserved."

"I mean, we didn't kill him ourselves, but it still feels like we did," Milly frowned. "He warned us about the Black Mask. Yes, what the Viceroy did was unforgivable, but wasn't ruining his reputation in front of the entire country enough? No one should die that way…"

Kallen laughed bitterly. "Maybe if he hadn't died just when he was about to tell us all exactly what Code-R entailed…"

Lelouch nodded grimly. "Mark my words, Diamond, they'll make Clovis into some kind of a martyr. I would bet my life on it. They'll say he wasn't himself, that he was under duress, and that we made him say things that weren't true. Or that he realized the error of his ways, and with nothing but contrition in his heart, he heroically gave his life in an attempt to expose the rogue scientists who acted without authorization of the crown. All hail Britannia!" he concluded scathingly.

"What?" Milly gasped, appalled. "How could you get that from the broadcast that we saw?"

"Don't be naive. Hi-TV was one of the few stations that showed more than the first minute of the broadcast. Since he was taking his time, being all melodramatic even as he delivered his confession, he had only just gotten to the bit about the treasury by then. Most viewers probably didn't see the part about Code-R live. I'm sure Hi-TV will be subject to a hefty fine too. Rumors will circulate, of course. Pirated versions of the speech already abound on the internet, and Britannia can't take them all down, no matter how hard it tries. But it can spin a new narrative, and plenty will be happy to swallow it rather than accept that the Third Prince was less than a paragon of virtue. Still, it won't fool everyone, and some will start to ask questions about society, questions that don't have comfortable answers, so that's a win for us."

"Well, for good or ill, people are talking about us now," Arthur shrugged. "We should check out that barrier and see if we can get past it now."

"Right," Milly nodded, still looking uneasy. "Well… what are we waiting for?" she asked, nervous laughter in her voice.

They headed down from the entrance, and there was the Cognitive Glasgow, waiting for them. On an earlier trip to Mementos, Kallen had taken to painting it red, like the Knightmare Frame she claimed to have back in reality, and she had been pleasantly surprised to see that the color had stuck.

"Everyone aboard?" Kallen asked as she took the Knightmare's controls.

"Cramped as always, but yes," Milly replied.

"Oh, quit complaining!"

Kallen steered them down to the first barrier with little fanfare; the Shadows barely seemed to pose a challenge to them anymore; they had fought significantly more powerful foes in Clovis' Palace.

"This is it," Arthur said, peering up to look at the display. "Is the barrier still there?"

"It looks it," Kallen frowned.

"Let me try something," Lelouch said, disembarking from the Knightmare. He walked over to the barrier, and touched it with an outstretched hand.

There was an immediate reaction. The stone groaned, sliding apart on each side to grant him entrance into the darkness that lay beyond.

"We're in," he smirked.

"Nice going, Zero!" Arthur grinned. "Now let's take a look!"

"It's still so dark down here," Milly murmured as Kallen brought the Knightmare past the now-opened barrier, spiraling further down into Mementos. "If it weren't for the Knightmare's searchlights or the sensors in its Factsphere, we'd barely be able to see a thing… There'd only be those dim red lights in the walls…"

"Those lights creep me out," Kallen frowned. "They almost seem like… a living thing…"

Ordinarily, Milly might have continued her line of teasing from their first trip into Mementos, insinuating that Kallen was afraid of ghosts. But all Milly managed was a subdued, "Yeah."

"Are you sure we aren't going around in circles?" Milly asked after a while.

"I don't think so," Lelouch replied.

"It's hard to tell," Arthur said. "Everything looks the same down here. If only we had Bishop here with us. She could probably see the route ahead for us."

Kallen suddenly perked up. "Did you hear that?"

"No," Milly replied. "What was it?"

"Listen!" Kallen said. Flicking switches and buttons on the Knightmare's console, she powered its systems down.

"What's got you so worried…" Lelouch murmured.

"Everyone, be quiet!" Kallen hissed, uncharacteristically anxious.

And so they listened. It was faint at first, but there was definitely something there… the sounds of rattling chains. Arthur's fur stood on its ends.

"I have a bad feeling about this…"

"I don't like this," Kallen said, trembling. "Not one bit…. I feel cold…. Naoto…" she whimpered.

If even Kallen was terrified, then they were truly in trouble. Lelouch felt it too now… It wasn't just a feeling of killing intent… Something far more sinister was searching for them…

"Queen, get us out of here, now!

"R-right!" Hurriedly, Kallen powered the Knightmare up again, its searchlights illuminating the tunnel.

A grim apparition came into view before them… a tall humanoid figure that seemed to float above the ground, garbed in tattered robes with a wide, bloodstained collar. At its sides, it dragged along a pair of long-barreled revolvers that reached down to the hem of its robe. Chains wrapped around its torso in an "X" shape, and its face could not be seen, hidden beneath a white sack, tightly fastened around its neck by a rope, save for a single, glowing yellow eye, peering out from a tear in the fabric, the surrounding material dripping with blood.

"T-that's…!" Milly cried.

Death itself stalked Mementos. It might not be the traditional depiction, but the conclusion was inescapable.

The Reaper had come.

The Reaper turned its head, locking them in its sights, and began gliding toward them, an implacable harbinger of doom.

Kallen engaged the Glasgow's Slash Harkens, harpoon-like projectiles mounted in its shoulders, embedding them in the ceiling and using them to pull the Knightmare up, just as The Reaper fired a pair of rounds that flew through the space they had occupied just moments before. Deftly twisting the Knightmare around, Kallen disengaged the Slash Harkens and pushed off, reversing the Knightmare's direction and revving its landspinners.

"Disabling limiters. Core Luminous at maximum output! Full throttle!" Kallen shouted. "Hang tight, everyone!"

Kallen raced the Knightmare through the winding tunnels of Mementos at breakneck speed, The Reaper in hot pursuit of its prey.

"Do you even know where you're going?" Milly asked in a panic.

"It doesn't matter, as long as we're away from that thing!"

The Knightmare rocked violently as something impacted into it. Alarms flared on the console, flashing red and delivering damage reports.

"We've lost an arm!" Milly shouted.

"I know that!"

"Queen, you're overloading the Yggdrasil Drive! Glasgows were never designed to be pushed like this! We'll have a critical failure in less than thirty seconds!" Milly continued to panic.

"If you think you're so knowledgeable about Knightmare's because of your family's old company, then you drive next time! We'll be dead anyway if we can't get away from this thing!"

"Queen, leap onto the parallel tracks!" Lelouch commanded.

"Are you-"

"Do it!"

Kallen grasped his meaning and obeyed, leaping from the main tunnel into one that had opened up alongside it… straight into the path of an oncoming train.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"Ten seconds!" Arthur cried.

Kallen continued to hurtle along the rails toward the train. Glancing at the display of what was behind them, Lelouch saw that The Reaper was still following them.

Just as planned.

"Five seconds!"

"Auto-Ejection System Failure" the console displayed.

"We're so going to die!" Milly said, covering her eyes.

Four seconds remained.

"Now!" Lelouch ordered.

Three seconds.

"Manual override!" Kallen shouted, hitting buttons furiously.

Two seconds.

"We've won," Lelouch smirked.

One second.

G-forces battered them as the cockpit of the Knightmare rocketed away from its body, while airbags filled and took away what little personal space they had in their already cramped quarters.

Detonation.

They felt the shock wave pass by them. Glancing at the displays, Lelouch saw shrapnel from the Glasgow's destruction pelt The Reaper.

The explosion appeared to blind The Reaper for a moment, but otherwise it seemed barely inconvenienced by the blast. Recovering, The Reaper looked up, and leveled its twin guns at them, ready to fire.

The train's horn sounded.

With a loud thud, the train crashed headlong into The Reaper, smashing it against the engine, and carrying it into the unseen depths of Mementos.

There was a hiss as the cockpit opened up.

"Did… did we… did we kill it?" Milly asked hopefully.

"I don't think so," Lelouch replied. "Death doesn't die easily. It will be back."

"How are we supposed to explore Mementos like this?" Arthur whined. "There's no way to beat something like that in a straight fight! It's far too powerful!"

"We're going to have to walk back to the surface," Kallen murmured. "A pity. That Knightmare was starting to grow on me. I even gave it a paint job and everything…"

"We're all alive. Isn't that what matters?" Lelouch asked. "By the way, that was some amazing piloting, Queen. We couldn't have done it without you."

"I.." Lelouch couldn't see Kallen's face clearly in the darkness, and it was covered by her lotus petal mask anyway, but he had a feeling that she was blushing. "It was your plan in the end that saved us, Zero," she said after a moment. "I was only trying to put as much distance between us and that thing as I could."

"Okay, before you two get all lovey-dovey, we should get going before that thing gets back up here and finds us," Milly said, a teasing tone finally returning to her voice.

"Hey!" Kallen and Lelouch said in unison.

"See what I mean, Arthur?"

"Just knock it off, Diamond!"

xXx

"Welcome back to my Velvet Room, Trickster," Igor said, lazily leaning his chin against an arm as he sat cross-legged in his chair. "For what purpose have you come to me today?"

"You never told us about that thing down in Mementos," Lelouch said angrily. "Are you trying to get us killed?"

"Mementos holds many secrets, Trickster," Igor replied, his rictus grin the same as ever. "But I assume you are referring to The Reaper."

"That's not any ordinary Shadow."

"Indeed, it is not." Igor paused. "I believe Tsu could provide the most concise explanation."

"As you have no doubt already realized, Inmate, The Reaper is an aspect of Death itself," Tsu began. "Unlike more benign manifestations, once drawn to a place, The Reaper hunts down those who linger too long there, bringing a swift and inevitable demise. This one patrols Mementos, the Palace of the Public, and eliminates any who disturb its peace."

This one? Did she mean there was more than one Reaper?

"You're lucky be alive," Tsu replied. "But do not think you can escape Death forever." She cleared her throat.

"Death is not a hunter unbeknownst to its prey," Tsu recited. "One is always aware that it lies in wait…"

"Though life is merely a journey to the grave," Shi suddenly spoke up, surprising Tsu and causing Igor to look on intently, "it must not be undertaken without hope. Only then will a traveler's story live on, treasured by those who bid him farewell." She paused. "Do not let your life end, Mr. Inmate, with your tale left unwritten…"

That was surprisingly poignant, especially coming from Shi.

"Did you come up with that yourself?" Lelouch asked her.

"Um… I… I don't know… it just came to me, Mr. -" Shi stammered. "Please, I'm sorry if you didn't like it."

"It is a poem for everyone's souls," Tsu explained. She gazed down at her sister. "But I don't know how or when you learned the rest of the verse. I never taught that to you." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You don't even know how to read, so you couldn't have learned it from a book. That's why I handle the Compendium."

Shi couldn't read? She may have the appearance of a young girl, but she was still an otherworldly being of the collective unconscious, one with unfathomed power at that. The revelation was startling to Lelouch.

"I'm sorry, Big Sister," Shi said, hanging her head.

"It's sentimental nonsense, really," Tsu said dismissively. "What hope is there to be found? A traveler only leaves pain in the hearts of those bid him farewell. I don't know why I even bothered to bring it up." She folded her arms and turned away from Lelouch.

"No," Lelouch said, shaking his head. "I think you brought it up because it means something to you. To both of you."

"You presume much, Inmate," Tsu replied, still not looking at him. But perhaps her tone was softer now?

"Now this is interesting…" Igor said, leaning forward. "To think that a human would cause you such consternation, Tsu… or move Shi to speak so eloquently…" He chuckled. "How very amusing. Continue to pursue this bond with my blessing, Trickster."

"Master!" Tsu exclaimed, clearly flustered, while Shi remained silent, but blushed faintly.

The resonance of the Death arcana within Lelouch told the real story.

"I never imagined that it would progress so quickly…" Igor murmured. "You may yet exceed my every expectation, Trickster."

xXx

"I never imagined that the Black Knights would be so bold!" Diethard gushed some time later, meeting with Lelouch in a seedy bar on the outskirts of the Tokyo Settlement. "Timing the assassination of the Viceroy in the middle of a live broadcast! What a spectacle! Of course, there were fines, but the increased interest in our coverage will more than make up for it! Everyone knows now that Hi-TV is where to turn to if you want the unvarnished truth."

"You mean your truth?"

Diethard chuckled. "You understand quickly, Mr. Lamperouge. There is no such thing as objective truth in journalism. Oh yes, some may pay lip service to such a lofty ideal, but they aren't being honest with themselves. Yet I believe that we can be honest with each other. What matters is who can create the best story to rally the opinion of the masses one way or the other. History is written by the victors, and the news helps shape history."

"With all due respect, them killing the Viceroy like that makes no sense," Lelouch replied. "The brutality of the murder would only serve to make people ignore and turn against their message."

"And you would know what their message is, Mr, Lamperouge?" Diethard chuckled. "Never mind that. Clovis may be gone, but you remain a surprisingly well-connected individual. Your paramour, the Countess, will have arrived in Pendragon by now to attend tomorrow's state funeral for Prince Clovis. There, she will meet with some of the most powerful men and women in the Empire, Through her, we can have a privileged inside scoop that would be the envy of lesser reporters, who waste all of their time focusing on the style of the nobility but none of the substance, hardly better than paparazzi or tabloid writers."

Lelouch did not bother correcting Diethard's incorrect assumption that Leila was his 'paramour'. As long as Diethard labored under that delusion, he could be controlled.

xXx

Wearing black was becoming all too familiar to Leila. She felt no love for the one she dressed in a mourning gown for now, but appearances had to be kept up. That was one of the key lessons her parents had taught her over the course of the dangerous game that had been and still was her life. To appear insufficiently sorrowful in the vipers' nest of Pendragon itself was to invite suspicion upon herself, and her new friends in turn. Of course, there would be those in attendance who either felt nothing or were wondering how they might profit from the Third Prince's untimely demise, but they were playing the game too, and would know to maintain a certain level of decorum, at least in public.

She felt overwhelmed by it all. While Clovis had confessed as planned, and Shinjuku had been saved, it had all gone disastrously wrong since there, and she felt out of her depth here.

She had found herself approached soon after her arrival in Pendragon by the 88th in line to the throne, Princess Marrybell mel Britannia, who had to be about her age and had rosy hair and deep blue-violet eyes, and her Knight, a certain Oldrin Zevon, also of a similar age, who wore her blonde hair in twintails, and had a small beauty mark beneath one of her green eyes. Leila recalled Lelouch speaking at least somewhat favorably of the Princess as a friend in his childhood, though she would never risk mentioning Lelouch's survival here of all places.

Princess Marrybell had inquired about what she planned to wear to the state funeral, and when Leila had told her, replied that it wouldn't do at all. The expectations for mourning were far higher when the deceased was royalty, especially if you were the beloved of the deceased. Wearing the same dress as she had worn to her parents' funeral would be viewed as an insult to the Third Prince, and a faux pas she should avoid at all costs in Pendragon. Before Leila had known it, the Princess and her Knight had whisked her off to have a new, much more elaborate dress tailored for her. As much as she appreciated the help, Leila vaguely had the feeling that Marrybell was having too much fun with the whole situation, almost as if she was a little girl excitedly playing dress up with a new doll. And while she could not refuse something that had been specially made for her at the expense of another, her new dress, floor length and complete with a diaphanous black veil, made her feel like she was being treated as if she was Clovis' widow in all but name, though no noble would ever recognize her to have a claim to royalty. The top of the dress was also cut far lower than she would have liked, practically flaunting her bust, but Marrybell had brushed off her questions when she asked about it with a mysterious smile.

The next day, Leila approached the Imperial Palace, the grandest of a complex of towering edifices and lush parks, carefully cultivated for the royal family's enjoyment and made ever more extravagant by the dry heat of the surrounding desert. The palace district took up nearly a third of the imperial capital's total area, positioned along the major axis of the city, accessible on each side by Pendragon's main boulevard, St. Darwin's Street.

There were seemingly interminable self-introductions that she had to make to any noble of consequence. Eventually though, she met Clovis's heartbroken younger sister, a twin-tailed girl with the same blonde hair and blue eyes as her late brother. Leila couldn't bring herself to tell the young princess that the older brother whom she had idolized had barely mentioned her at all, but instead sympathized with her and offered sincere words of condolence for her loss. As monstrous as Clovis had turned out to be, he was still family to this girl, and the pain of losing her own family was still fresh. Besides, she wasn't the sort to intentionally rub salt in another's wounds, especially one innocent of her brother's crimes.

"Well spoken, Lady Breisgau," another voice said as Clovis' sister departed, "but see to it that you see to your own need to grieve. To suffer two tragedies so close to each other is a trial that few can endure. You handle yourself with dignity, but you are hurting as much, if not more than any of us. It was kind, was you did for her, but if you give too freely when you are already worn so thin, the mask you wear will surely crack."

She turned around. "Prime Minister Schneizel!" He was a giant of a man, in any sense of the term, famed for both his strategic and diplomatic prowess, and towering over her at six feet and seven inches. Like her, he had light blonde hair, and violet eyes that seemed to pierce through her with an overpowering intellect. Could he see through her deceptions, even now? He was dressed in a royal purple tunic, over which he wore a long white jacket with golden trim, epaulettes, and a high black collar. His voice was effortlessly charming, while lacking the pretension of Clovis', though that made him all the more dangerous. It was said that Schneizel could persuade people to agree to just about anything and leave thinking they had gained something valuable, while always keeping the upper hand himself. Thankfully the Prime Minister and Second Prince of Britannia did not seem to show the same sort of interest in her that his late half-brother had; the attentions of one prince were exhausting enough.

"I'm sorry for my reaction, your Highness," she said, composing herself. "I just wasn't expecting you."

"There is no need for you to apologize, Lady Breisgau," Schneizel said, holding up a hand slightly. Leila tried not to show her discomfort at being referred to as such. To her, "Lady Breisgau" meant her late mother, whose death was still all too recent.

"May I introduce you to my brother, Crown Prince Odysseus eu Britannia?" Schneizel asked. He gestured respectfully to a slightly older man standing behind them. 'Inoffensive' was the first word that came to mind, seeing the Crown Prince. Like his siblings, he was blessed with natural good looks, with a strong chin, a neatly trimmed light brown beard, and blue eyes, but his charm was more superficial. He lacked the same spark that Schneizel, Lelouch, or even Clovis had. Twisted and conceited as he was, Clovis had legitimately been a skilled artist, she would concede that in private. But as far as she knew, Odysseus lacked any such talents. He was a figurehead, a puppet, while Schneizel pulled the strings.

"I'm sorry that we couldn't meet under happier circumstances," the Crown Prince told her. "It would have been a pleasure to have you as a member of our family. If there is anything we can do for you, you need only ask."

"Thank you, your Highness."

"His Majesty, the Emperor, will be delivering the eulogy shortly," Schneizel told her, extending a hand. "We would be honored if you would join us on the dais. There is a chair reserved for you there."

Nodding, Leila politely took the Prime Minister's hand, even as her heart was thumping in her chest, surely so loud that it would betray her. She was going to be on the same stage as the Emperor of Britannia, whose tyranny her parents had rebelled against?

Her chair was tall, gray, and uncomfortable, and faced a crowd of how many thousands in the massive hall? Behind her was an arrangement of countless white roses, and an enormous portrait of the late Third Prince, stories high and clutching a red rose against his chest. "All Hail Britannia" began playing, and then the words she had been dreading were pronounced.

"And now, his Royal Majesty, the 98th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire…"

Emperor Charles zi Britannia advanced to the podium, clutching it tightly with white gloved hands. Even at 62, he was an imposing figure, slightly shorter than Schneizel, but much greater in girth. He had the same violet eyes that Lelouch did, but they were filled with only pride and cruelty. He wore a rather ridiculous white wig, styled into curls, a fashion that should have died out long ago, but no one would dare say that to the Emperor's face, and a royal blue-violet suit, with a black cape falling from his shoulders.

To most Britannians, he wasn't just a man, or their Emperor. He was as close to a living god as one could get, an invincible symbol of the overwhelming might of Britannia.

The Emperor began his speech, his voice naturally booming and made deafening by the loudspeakers throughout the hall.

"All men are not created equal…."

xXx

Another mandatory assembly in the gymnasium, this time to watch Clovis' State Funeral… On their way here, Shirley had been fretting about some gas leak near her father's workplace and some unseasonable weather in Narita, only for it to turn out to be nothing. But now that they were assembled, they were forced to stand at attention and listen in silence as his father, the Emperor, spoke.

Wait, was that Leila on the stage, near his brothers? There had only been a brief glimpse of her before the camera cut to focus on the Emperor, but he had been sure of it.

"Some are born swifter of foot, some with greater beauty. Some are born into poverty, and others born sick and feeble. Both in birth and in upbringing, in each his scope of ability, every human is inherently different! Yes, that is why people discriminate against one another, which is why there is struggle, competition, and the unfaltering march of progress. Inequality is not wrong… equality is!"

Lelouch clenched his fist. Nearby him, Kallen had a similar reaction.

"What of the E.U., which made equality a right?" the Emperor continued, "Rabble, politics by a popularity contest! What of the Chinese Federation, with its equal distribution of wealth? A nation of lazy dullards! But not our beloved Britannia…. We fight! We compete! Evolution is continuous! Britannia alone moves forward, advancing steadily into the future! Even the death of my son Clovis demonstrates Britannia's unswerving commitment to progress! We will fight on, we shall struggle, compete, plunder, and dominate! And in the end, the future shall be ours! All hail Britannia!" He swung up his fist in a salute.

xXx

"All hail Britannia!" Again and again, the crowd chorused those words. If the Emperor had been deafening, this was something else entirely.

Only a passing mention to his son? Leila could see not dwelling on Clovis' crimes - why would the Emperor even acknowledge them? But the Emperor had turned what should have been a somber occasion for those assembled into a propaganda rally for his Social Darwinist ideals.

And these people embraced it wholeheartedly!

The Emperor strode from the podium. For one terrible moment, the Emperor paused, and Leila felt his gaze meet hers, as if threatening to crush her like an insect. But the Emperor immediately seemed to lose interest in her, and continued on his way, leaving her to sigh in relief.

xXx

"Lieutenant Colonel Kusakabe… For your crimes, you have been sentenced to death… Is there anything you would like to say?"

"You think you've won?" Shadow Kusakabe snarled. "You're just a worthless…"

A shot rang out, and Mementos was silent once again.

 **A/N:**

 **This will be my last update on this vacation. The pace of updates will slow going forward to once every few weeks (if all goes well) due to increased demands on my time, but as you can see, I have plenty of inspiration for this story, and once I get another good chunk of time, I can easily write a lot of chapters in succession.**

 **A Knightmare probably wouldn't actually explode in that way in the "real" world. But the public's cognition, from movies and TV is that critical failure = BOOM! and that's what matters in Mementos.**

 **The poem that Tsu and Shi recite is the game over message in Persona 3, modified slightly at the end, but I believe it fit their Confidant arc, and the overall theme of the chapter, Death.**

 **I decided to write Clovis' State Funeral scene mostly from Leila's perspective, as Lelouch's is well known to us. As for the Emperor's speech, it is taken verbatim from the show, as an important establishing part of his character and ideology.**

 **See you next time!**

 **Edit: This story has also now spawned its own fan fiction, Wings of Rebellion Gaiden. It is an alternate, what-if side story to this one, and should not be considered strictly "canonical" to this one, but, per my discussions with the author of that story, I may adopt details of his story that serve my purposes into my story, and vice versa. Think of it how Code Geass spawned a number of spinoffs with shared elements like Nightmare of Nunnally, Suzaku of the Counterattack, etc. which are not canon to each others, but occasionally share references or certain plot threads. The "unseasonable weather in Narita" is a nod to that side-story.**

 **I am also embarrassed to realize that I have been spelling Schneizel's name wrong this whole time! I will be fixing this error where I can find it!**

 **Edit 2: In accordance with the note in Ch. 19 about the correct use of noble titles, the usual mode of address for a countess is "Lady", so changed Schneizel's dialogue slightly.**


	23. The Devil and the Princess

An air of unease remained over Ashford Academy in the days after Clovis' startling speech and funeral.

"I still can't believe that the Black Knights killed the Viceroy…"

"I know… just when they were starting to seem cool…"

"How do you think they killed him?"

"It must have been poison!"

"Whatever it was, talk about sick…"

"But what about those things the Viceroy said?"

"Yeah… about those experiments… could he…?"

"I wouldn't put much stock in it. He was acting pretty strange before he died…."

"Yeah, maybe it was the drugs they killed him with…"

"Haven't the Elevens been getting restless lately?"

"I'm sure the new Viceroy will sort it all out."

"They call her the Goddess of Victory!"

"She'll get to the bottom of this, and put those Elevens back in their place."

"Won't the Black Knights target her? If they can kill the Viceroy…"

Milly sighed as they left the gossiping students behind them and walked toward the Student Council Clubhouse together. "Looks like you were right, Lelouch. Its like hardly anything changed at all."

"A few people have started to ask questions," Arthur said, scurrying into sight, "but they're letting themselves be drowned out."

"Most people don't like standing out," Lelouch scowled. "They feel safe within the herd, and fear being ostracized by their peers. It's far easier to go along with the flow, and not voice one's opinions, especially when there are so much more comforting explanations."

Milly shook her head. "It feels so hopeless…"

"It's just the beginning," he reassured her softly. "Soon they'll have no choice but to acknowledge the truth before their eyes."

She nodded. "I hope so. It will do us no good if we keep moping about it. GUTS!" Milly suddenly shouted, trying to energize herself with her 'spell'. "Well, maybe that made me feel a little better," she said sheepishly. "Let's try to plan something fun with the Student Council to raise everyone's spirits!" Milly continued, more decisively, though Lelouch could tell she was putting on a front to seem strong when she was still badly shaken. He couldn't blame her. Not only was there the whole debacle with Clovis, but also their near-death experience with The Reaper in Mementos.

"We should get something good to eat," Arthur spoke up. "A good meal always cheers me up. I used to never know when I would be able to eat. But now…"

"You'll get fat if you aren't careful, Arthur," Milly said, finally breaking into a genuine smile and bending down to pet him.

"Ooh! Maybe we can get some sushi! Or sashimi!" Arthur began drooling. "Maybe even tempura or takoyaki! Kallen's brother told me about those, and I always wanted to try some!"

"I've heard that raw fish isn't good for cats," Lelouch replied matter-of-factly. "And I don't think deep-fried seafood is either."

"And you just had to ruin my fun," Arthur frowned. "But I suppose some grilled meat skewers would be fine."

"Lelouch!" Suzaku called. He hurried over to them. "Are you two really planning a some kind of party at a time like this? Doesn't that seem inappropriate?"

"You just need to loosen up, Suzaku," Milly replied. "You'd have a point if we were celebrating someone's death; even I'd find that in bad taste. But it's when everyone's feeling down that we need some cheer here on campus more than ever."

"I see. That's fair," Suzaku admitted. "But ordering food like sushi will give people the wrong idea and make them think you're holding a party celebrating the Viceroy's death. Not to mention it's hard to find it these- Ow!"

Arthur had bounded over to Suzaku, leapt up, and playfully bit into his hand.

"Arthur!" Milly scolded.

"Don't worry… we're even now," Arthur purred contentedly, before biting into Suzaku's hand again.

"Ouch!"

"It was just an idea that was thrown out," Milly said, shrugging. "Don't worry. I'm sure I can come up with something far better." A wicked smile spread on her face.

Milly getting ideas was a dangerous thing.

xXx

"Hey! Let go of me!" Lelouch protested. "Suzaku, you traitor!"

"But it's the President's orders," his 'friend' replied.

"Yeah, like you're not enjoying this at all?" Lelouch shot back.

"Will you hold still?" Shirley asked in slight exasperation

Milly had turned the Student Council upon him with frightening speed upon their arrival at the Clubhouse. Spontaneously declaring it "Dress Like a Cat Day", as it would be a shame to let those costumes she had made for Arthur's welcoming party go to waste, she had ordered them to seize him and tie him to a chair when he refused to participate.

It turned out that Shirley was a lot stronger than she looked, though in retrospect Lelouch knew he should have expected as much, given that she was an athlete. Once Suzaku had grabbed him as well, he knew there would be no escape from their clutches. Rivalz wasted no time in joining in their betrayal, bringing over the rope to bind him with while Milly supervised the whole thing. Of course Rivalz did. Everyone knew that Rivalz had a hopeless crush on Milly, and indeed, Rivalz was her willing minion in all manner of craziness if it would curry favor with her. Before long, Lelouch was reduced to helpless wriggling.

As for Arthur, he was curled up on a stool, apparently taking a nap, but Lelouch could tell that the cat was secretly smirking at his own underwhelming physical prowess.

The others returned after a few minutes, already changed into their costumes. They hadn't been at all concerned that he would be able to escape from their ropework. Lelouch's prediction that Milly would be bold enough to cosplay as her Black Knight alter ego, Diamond, proved correct, though Milly had forgone Diamond's mask, and so to the casual observer she appeared to be in an ordinary yet revealing cat costume, not dressed as a phantom thief. Rivalz followed her, shamelessly dressed in a yellow cat costume with brown spots and fake whiskers strapped across his face. Suzaku had joined in the insanity too, in a blue cat costume with a baggy hood, and a spot like Arthur's and thin whiskers painted on his face. Shy Nina could get away with just wearing a small tiger hood over her normal uniform. But Shirley…

Clearly it had been a mistake for him to summon Incubus from the Compendium recently.

As he had spent more time strengthening his bonds, Lelouch had noticed that he was more at ease with his confidants when he had a Persona of an arcana that matched theirs, in part because doing so helped attune him to that confidant's personality, which also helped elicit more favorable responses from them in turn. Incubus was a Persona of the Devil Arcana, long since surpassed in strength by his other Personas, but he had begun carrying Incubus within him to facilitate his meetings with Diethard.

But the act of carrying a Persona within himself meant that those corresponding parts of his psyche tended to come to the fore.

Incubus was, at his core, a sex demon, said to seduce and prey upon women as they slept, an ugly, winged devil endowed with an oversized, sickle-shaped phallus.

What this meant was that as soon as Lelouch saw Shirley and her costume, the Incubus dwelling within him immediately began polluting his thoughts with unbidden feelings of lust.

Shirley was dressed in a reddish-pink cat costume, trimmed with a fluffy lighter pink material, with a crop top that extended up to wrap around her neck, a pair of small pom-poms dangling from it, but cutting off at her shoulders and just below her breasts, revealing her arms and almost her entire midriff. She had more coverage below, with shorts that extended halfway down her thighs, but they were tight-fitting, and a fake tail was attached to them in the rear. Shirley completed her look with cat slippers on her feet, fluffy sleeves on her lower arms, a cat-eared headband, fake whiskers painted on her face like Suzaku, and had her hair styled into a high pair of twintails in the back. She didn't tend to flaunt it like Milly did, but…

"Will you look at that?" a sleazy voice seemed to say inside of himself. "She's been filling out in all of the right places."

That was something Milly would say.

"You know it's true," the voice continued. "Not quite as stacked as blondie over there, but nothing to sneeze at… Nice body too… Tall, slender, supple… You can really tell she works out… Look at those legs…"

"Quiet," Lelouch thought back.

"Don't be like that, sonny. After all, I am you. Keeping all those hormones of yours pent up isn't healthy. Deep down, you have the hots for the pretty kitty there. Right now, what we really want to do is stick our little friend in her and -"

"Enough," Lelouch thought, more forcefully this time, though he was betrayed once again, this time by a certain stiffness in his crotch. Thankfully, Milly didn't notice his reaction to Shirley's costume, or else her teasing would have been swift and merciless.

Incubus ignored him. "Just sit back and enjoy the show." Shirley was right up against him now, as she started to work on applying makeup to his face.

"So pure and innocent," Incubus mentally smirked. "Look at that smile on her face, just being by your side. Not only is she ignorant of the true ugliness of the world, but you can tell she's hopelessly in love with you. Or hadn't you noticed?" He could hear Incubus snickering inside of his head. "You could have it so easy if you wanted. And she's just the sort of girl I love to corrupt, who would martyr herself for her love, damning herself to Hell in the process."

"Shut up."

"Oh, so you're protective of her, sonny? But you must know that you can't keep her pure forever…"

"One more word, and I'm executing you the next time I visit the Velvet Room."

Incubus finally took the hint, and the lustful feelings he had brought subsided with his departure.

Mostly, anyway. Shirley was attractive, yes, but he hadn't really consciously thought of her in the way Incubus had suggested before, let alone have an…

"Lulu!" Shirley said suddenly, concern crossing her face. "You're bleeding!" Just as he had thought that his body was done betraying him, a trickle of blood had leaked from his nose. She turned. "Does anyone have a tissue?"

"Ah, so innocent!" Milly grinned, pouncing. "Don't you know what a nosebleed like that means? The Japanese know, don't they, Suzaku?"

"Huh?" Shirley asked in confusion.

"It… um…" Suzaku said, now getting flustered himself. "How do I put this…"

Suzaku was spared from having to give an explanation when Kallen unexpectedly entered.

"I'm sorry I'm late," Kallen started. "I tried to get to the meeting as fast as I could but my health wouldn't allow me to-" She paused in the middle of her lie, the bizarre costumes that her fellow Student Council members were wearing finally registering. "What are you-" she began again.

"Oh!" Milly turned, and raised one of her fake paws. "Good meowning!" She waved.

"Good morning, I guess," Kallen replied awkwardly. She did a take. "Why is Lelouch tied up?"

"He didn't want to obey Madam President's orders," Rivalz spoke up.

Shirley looked up from Lelouch as she finished dabbing a tissue across his face to soak up the blood. "I set aside some costumes for you, Kallen. Over here," she said pointing to a rack with several costumes still hanging on it. "I know we haven't quite gotten off on the right foot before, with me getting upset over nothing, but I hope this makes up for it a bit." Doubtlessly, Shirley was referring to all of the times she had overreacted when she thought that he was going out with Kallen.

Lelouch was going to open his mouth with a quip that Kallen didn't need a costume since she was already wearing a mask, something that would only truly be understood by his fellow Black Knights. But he changed his mind.

If he was going to be forced to suffer the indignity of wearing a cat costume all day, then Kallen was going to suffer with him.

It wasn't as if Kallen could resist without breaking her cover.

He smirked.

Embarrassing as it was, when all was said and done, he felt a little closer to all of his confidants on the Student Council.

xXx

Leila was already exhausted by her trip to and from Pendragon. She had tried to get what sleep she could on the flight back to Japan, but jet lag had thrown off her body's natural rhythms, and for the most part she remained restless. Hopefully her fellow Black Knights at Ashford Academy were having a better time than she was.

To top it all off, she had received a summons from the Second Princess and newly appointed Viceroy of Area 11, Cornelia li Britannia, who wanted to meet with her after arriving in Japan in just a few days' time. Leila had seen Cornelia, as well as the new Viceroy's younger sister, Third Princess Euphemia, from afar at Clovis' funeral, and Cornelia exuded an aura of command and competence that her late half brother had not, making her a formidable opponent on or off the battlefield.

Leila did not look forward the meeting.

xXx

Unbeknownst to the Black Knights, Third Princess Euphemia li Britannia had travelled ahead of her older sister and arrived in Area 11 on the same night that Leila returned to it.

Euphemia was usually a cheerful young woman, but she couldn't help but feel glum as she looked out from the windows of her new quarters in the Tokyo Settlement's Government Bureau. The death of her half-brother Clovis and its horrific manner had disturbed her greatly, but even more troubling were the heinous crimes which he had confessed to. In the time that she had known Clovis, back in Pendragon, he had only been kind and affectionate to her and his other younger half siblings, especially Lelouch and Nunnally, who many of the other royals had looked down upon for their mother's heritage as a commoner. But it was also Clovis who had wept as he admitted to orchestrating "inhumane experiments" and to the torture and murder of so many people as part of those experiments. He had been killed before he could describe exactly what those experiments entailed, leaving it to her imagination to fill in the blanks with the most gruesome imagery in her nightmares. She hadn't been sleeping well at all lately.

They told her that a group calling itself the Black Knights had killed Clovis. But that explanation didn't add up. Why would the Black Knights, who claimed to have the power to change their targets' hearts and thus force them to admit to their crimes, murder Clovis in the middle of his confession? She might not be particularly politically experienced yet, but she knew enough from life in Pendragon to recognize a cover-up. Someone else had killed her half brother. But who?

Yet even though she was certain that the Black Knights were innocent of murder, she couldn't help but feel a bit afraid of them, not for herself, but for the safety of her older sister Cornelia. Euphemia loved her older sister dearly, but while she was certain that Cornelia had never done anything as unspeakable as Clovis had, she knew that Cornelia was hardly a saint either. One did not become the feared Goddess of Victory without one's own share of sins. If the Black Knights had been able to target Clovis, might they do the same to Cornelia upon her arrival in Japan? The change of heart and the ensuing anguish they had brought upon Clovis had all but destroyed him, leaving him a miserable wreck of his former self. What would happen if the Black Knights stole her sister's heart?

Then there was her own position. Up until Clovis' death, she had just been a student cloistered in Pendragon, without any formal royal duties. Now, Cornelia had appointed her Sub-Viceroy of Area 11, tasked with managing the colony's day-to-day domestic operations. Cornelia herself was to assume direct control over the Area's military garrisons and judicial system to crack down on the terrorist and criminal activity that was on the rise throughout Japan following Clovis' confession, and was accompanied by her own personal Knight, Sir Gilbert Guilford, her trusted general, Andreas Darlton, and the latter's elite unit of Knightmare pilots and adoptive children, the Glaston Knights. At present, Euphemia lacked her own staff of such trusted confidants, and while Guilford, Darlton, and the Glaston Knights were nothing if not respectful to her, they still served Cornelia first and foremost, and they would already have their hands full with the tasks her sister would assign to them.

The staff she had inherited from Clovis' colonial administration was a completely different matter. When they saw her, they saw an inexperienced, naive Princess whose function was to be the kinder face of the new regime in Area 11 while her sister was Britannia's iron fist. They would insist that she leave the business of running Area 11 to bureaucrats such as themselves and concern herself with charity work, relief to those effected by terrorism, and photo ops, cultivating a positive image with the people after the public relations disaster precipitated by Clovis. The media had largely fallen in line with Britannia's official spin, quieting much of the unrest that may have otherwise arisen among the citizens of the Tokyo Settlement, but it had not altogether silenced them, and hints of dissension were still there, simmering under the surface. They hoped that she could bring them back into the fold, and perhaps even win over some of the Numbers as well, though the Japanese were of course a secondary concern to the bureaucrats.

Euphemia knew they wouldn't tell her what she needed to know, and would try to keep her close to the Government Bureau, or at least never far from an official escort. Part of that was the will of her sister too. Cornelia had always doted upon her, and Euphemia had no doubt that Cornelia would fiercely protect her from any threats, but for the first time, her sister's aegis felt suffocating. If she was really to serve the people of Tokyo and Japan as a whole, and not merely be there for propaganda purposes, she needed to see the Tokyo Settlement and the outlying ghettos for herself.

And so Euphemia began to plan her escape…

xXx

"The coast is clear," Leila whispered. "There's no sign of Shadows down that tunnel."

"Hang back and continue scanning," Lelouch instructed. "If you sense Death approaching, we need to know right away."

"I will," Leila nodded. She had been tired, but was hanging in there for them remarkably well, bolstered by several cups of coffee.

With Leila's return to Japan and her extrasensory abilities, the Black Knights had tentatively resumed their exploration of Mementos. Not only could she help them find the most efficient way through the always shifting layout of the cavernous Palace, but she was their early warning system against an appearance of The Reaper. So far, it had yet to make another appearance, but perhaps that was because they had kept moving forward. He recalled Igor saying that it was drawn to those who lingered for too long in Mementos, and they had been lost, going around in circles, when it attacked.

Moving efficiently through the tunnels was more important than ever now that they were without the Knightmare which they had once used to zip through them. Progress was slow as it was, simply due to Mementos' sheer size, and a delay from a wrong turn might be all it took to allow The Reaper to find them. An encounter with The Reaper would be unquestionably fatal at this point. They couldn't pull the same trick as last time to evade it, and even then it had been far too close.

Thankfully, that fear kept anyone from talking about "Dress Like a Cat Day" while in Mementos. They couldn't afford distractions now, and the work of exploring Mementos and changing the hearts within had to go on. Refusing to step foot inside the Palace of the Public again would be a capitulation to Britannia.

For a time, it seemed that the tunnels would never end, but finally, they found they could proceed no further.

"Another barrier?" Arthur frowned. "Taking down the Viceroy wasn't enough?"

"We're known to the general public now," Lelouch replied, "But clearly the Black Knights have not yet worked their way deeper into their consciousness."

"If it's okay, I think we can rest here," Leila said with a sigh. "This platform appears to be a safe area. Death can't find us here."

Milly nodded. Even Kallen seemed tired.

"So what now?" Kallen asked after a minute. "The new Viceroy will be here any day now. Do we target her, or - "

"We need to prove to the public that we are on the side of ordinary people, Japanese and Britannian alike," Leila said quietly. "No matter our message, it will be ignored for as long as ordinary Britannians can write us off as being mere terrorists."

"I see that now," Milly replied. "But how do we do that?"

"Like any Area, the Tokyo Settlement has a sizable criminal underworld," Lelouch replied. "While such gangsters preferentially prey upon the oppressed Numbers, they are all too happy to entrap ordinary Britannians in gambling debts, or run protection rackets. Any destruction caused to businesses that don't pay up can be blamed upon terrorist activity, and the authorities will usually look the other way. It doesn't help that much of the Knightpolice is on the mob's payroll, giving these thugs enough firepower to terrorize any who dare oppose them."

"You learned this while gambling?" Milly asked. "If only Shirley knew! She'd have a fit. 'What did I tell you about gambling? It's too dangerous, Lulu! If you died, I'd-'" Milly said in an anxious imitation of Shirley's voice.

"I did, actually," Lelouch replied, containing his annoyance. "There's a certain mobster that I particularly want to look into. He's known as the Black King. He has a reputation as a skilled chess player, but I've never played him myself. He's also said to be bankrolling a major construction project in one of the commercial districts on the outskirts of the settlement. The Black King is clearly very well-connected, and if we can take him down, we'd at once win the trust of countless Britannian civilians who quietly suffer under his extortion, while exposing further evidence of corruption and complicity within their own government. Not to mention the untold number of Japanese who doubtlessly live in slavery to the mob…"

Kallen clenched a fist. "They've been flooding the ghettos with a new drug called Refrain lately. It lets you relive your happiest memories in vivid detail… but it's highly addictive, and prolonged use and withdrawal leaves you an invalid. It's no wonder why it's popular among the Japanese… but they're killing my people with it! Addicts can barely fend for themselves, and use of the drug carries a twenty year prison sentence. Of course, it's only the Japanese who the authorities are interested in arresting."

"It's no less a form of genocide than Clovis' 'urban renewal' was," Leila said sadly.

Milly frowned. "It just keeps getting worse and worse, doesn't it?"

"Britannia is rotten to the core, Diamond," Lelouch replied. "It's far more than just a gym teacher, a Viceroy, or even an Emperor."

"I'm starting to see that." She laughed nervously. "Well, we've stuck together through all of this. We've even committed high treason together now."

"We may not have been the ones to kill Clovis, but our hands are nonetheless stained with his blood," Leila agreed somberly.

"And stained as they are, we have no reason to stay them now," Lelouch continued firmly. "We have no choice but to continue on, lest the sacrifices made be in vain. Our next target is the Black King. And while we're at it, we'll find and put a stop to that Black Mask and the mental shutdowns. Are there any objections?"

There were none.

"Excellent. Then let's get started."

xXx

"Welcome back, Inmate," Tsu replied as Lelouch entered the Velvet Room from the top of Mementos.

"There… is something that my Big Sister and I would like to speak to you about, Mr. Inmate," Shi said, seeming less afraid of him than she had before.

"You've given us quite a bit to think about lately, Inmate," Tsu continued, "so we'd like to introduce you to a new way to strengthen your powers. Do you see that cell over there, across from you?"

Lelouch nodded. It wasn't hard to miss it. The entire perimeter of the Velvet Room was cells.

"Our Master has given us permission to use that cell to put your Personas in Lockdown. Or perhaps the term 'solitary confinement' makes more sense to you."

Shi's voice contained none of the condescension that Tsu's did. "You won't be able to call a Persona that has been locked up, Mr. Inmate. And it's not safe to lock up more than one at a time."

"But it will leave hardened from its experience," Tsu continued. "In other words, it will gain new resistances, perhaps even covering up one of its weaknesses."

"Don't leave them too long," Shi said with worry. "They'll get all lonely and disappear if you forget about them…" She started crying a bit at the thought.

"So, which Persona shall we confine for you, Inmate?" Tsu demanded. "You know you can't resist the lure of more power."

"Ippon-Datara," Lelouch said after a moment. Ippon-Datara already had an impressive set of resistances. If by chance confinement could cover up the Persona's weakness to ice, he could safely carry Ippon-Datara into nearly every battle without the fear that Shadows could strike him down with a Bufu spell in an ambush.

It was a strange feeling, leaving Ippon-Datara behind in the Velvet Room, as if a part of himself was missing, but he knew that, one way or another, he would emerge stronger from the ordeal.

Inwardly, that part of him that was Incubus seemed to sigh in relief that it wasn't going to be executed today.

"I can still change my mind, you know," Lelouch thought menacingly.

 **A/N:**

 **Only a week... I got this one out quite a bit faster than I thought I would. That's an encouraging sign, though don't always hold me to such a fast update time when I'm not on vacation.**

 **Lelouch is not one to get distracted by his female companions usually... but he does show some signs of desire at times in the show, and as much as he reins that because he's more interested in his plans for toppling Britannia, it's hard to totally ignore one's urges when they are personified as one's inner demons. In the Persona series, a Persona is often depicted as a Shadow brought under the control of the ego, so it's precisely because Lelouch usually tends to repress or ignore feelings of attractions that he may feel toward Shirley that Incubus responds to them so strongly.**

 **Chose to give Euphemia a POV section in this chapter rather than a separate interlude for pacing reasons, and to be clear that her events were concurrent to the rest of the chapter.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**


	24. Interlude - Outside the Gilded Cage

"Out of the way, please! Look out below!"

Euphemia had changed into clothes that a commoner might wear, a simple white blouse and pale yellow bodice, with a flowing light orange skirt, pastel colors that she thought complemented her pink hair quite nicely. She had also tied bedsheets together to make a rope by which she might slip out a window, only to discover after securing one end to something heavy that she had come up short and would need to drop the rest of the way onto the street below. It was higher than she would like, but she didn't see another option if she was to slip away from her guards without getting caught. It was only after she had let go that she noticed there was someone underneath her, prompting her to shout out a warning.

To her surprise, the stranger caught her in his arms, breaking her fall. Looking up, she saw that the stranger was a young Japanese man with brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing a Britannian student uniform, which meant that he must be an Honorary Britannian, and moreover his uniform seemed to be of particularly high quality, suggesting a prestigious school, which in turn meant that he likely had a powerful benefactor. She might be sheltered, but even she knew that Honorary Britannians were discriminated against, in spite of theoretically having most of the same rights as ordinary Britannian citizens. She oddly felt like he should be familiar to her, but she couldn't place him.

"Are you all right?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware you were down here before I had leaped," she apologized.

"Don't worry… I wasn't expecting a girl to come falling out of the sky and into my arms either."

That was rather sweet of him, though he didn't seem to realize just how charming that had sounded.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked, still oblivious.

"Yes, there is something wrong," she said after a moment. "The truth is, bad guys are chasing me, so considering the circumstances, would you help me please?"

For a moment she wondered why she was lying like that to someone she had just met, especially one who was so unexpectedly kind to her. Obviously, she would have had to lie to anyone she met out in the Settlement, as she couldn't just say, "I'm Princess Euphemia and I've run away" without defeating the entire point of her mission. But to say that "bad guys" were chasing her was a lie so ridiculous that no person her age could be seriously expected to believe it. Even though it was true that her guards would be looking for her before long, she couldn't really think of them as "bad guys". They were just doing their jobs.

To her surprise, he didn't question the lie, and instead helped her to her feet, telling her that he would be glad to help.

She could tell that he knew, though.

"Um, we haven't introduced ourselves yet," she said after a while of strolling through the Tokyo Concession. "You probably know that I haven't been entirely honest with you," she said, looking down. "My name is -"

"Euphemia li Britannia," he finished for her, though he kept his voice low, so that only she could hear him. "And there aren't any 'bad guys' chasing you, are there?"

"How did you know that?" She had been planning to admit the lie about being chased, but even then she had been going to introduce herself as just "Euphy." She hadn't even made her full public debut yet, so there wasn't any reasonable way for an ordinary Honorary Britannian in Area 11 to know who she was. Then again, as his uniform indicated, her guide clearly wasn't an ordinary Honorary Britannian.

"I work in a special research division that reports to Prince Schneizel," he told her. "He told us that you might try to wander off, and asked me to keep an eye on you from afar. That's why I was near the Government Bureau. Though I didn't expect that you would leap right into my arms."

Euphemia frowned. The magic of the moment seemed to vanish in an instant. "So… you'll be taking me back to the Bureau?"

"Not unless you want me to," he said with a shrug and an easy smile. "Prince Schneizel only said to keep an eye on you. He didn't say to drag you anywhere against your will. Besides, if I accompany you, not only will I be able to fulfill my orders, but you'll be able to find your way around and travel across the Settlement without having to worry about your own guards trying to restrict where you can go."

Euphemia couldn't help but smile a bit in turn. Their encounter might not have been a coincidence like she first thought it was, but her tail and now guide sounded like he legitimately wanted to be here with her, and not just because he was following his orders.

"Then I would be glad to have you accompany me for a while longer," she replied. If he was sent by her older half brother, the Second Prince, she couldn't really countermand the orders the Honorary Britannian had been given; as second in line to the throne and the Prime Minister, Schneizel clearly outranked her as royalty. But she had the feeling that he would have left anyway if she had asked him to.

"As you wish, Milady," her guide said, bowing slightly.

"By the way, you still haven't introduced yourself," Euphemia said. "And you can call me Euphy."

"My apologies," he said. "My name is Suzaku Kururugi. But it feels strange for me to address a princess so informally. I couldn't."

Kururugi. That name was familiar to her. "The son of Japan's last Prime Minister, Genbu Kururugi?" she asked.

A pained look crossed Suzaku's face for a moment. "Yes," he replied, composing himself once again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up a painful memory."

"It's fine," he reassured her. "Now where would you like to go?"

They continued to meander around the Tokyo Concession, and Euphemia found that she was enjoying herself and Suzaku's company considerably. The Concession, with its malls, restaurants, and entertainment venues was much like any Britannian city back in the homeland, and as such, she felt at home there.

But that was exactly the sort of complacency that she had sought to escape from.

"Suzaku, could you take me to one last place before I return to the Government Bureau?" she asked softly.

"Of course, Milady. Where to?"

"Take me to the Shinjuku Ghetto on the outskirts of the Settlement."

Suzaku seemed taken aback, but he nodded.

"Stay close," he told her. "The Japanese in the ghettos don't like to see Britannians coming there, but I'll keep you safe no matter what happens."

xXx

The bleak expanse of run-down buildings that made up the Shinjuku Ghetto were dismaying for Euphemia to see up close. Technically, they were still on its outskirts, a narrow strip of mostly abandoned land between the Settlement and the dilapidated ward of Shinjuku proper, but Euphemia had never been near one of the Ghettos before, and certainly would not have been allowed here if Cornelia had her way.

"I see…" she said gloomily. "Thank you, Suzaku."

They were about to turn to leave, when they heard a commotion not far away.

"Please!" a voice was begging in rough Britannian. "I'll pay you back, I sw-"

"You've been given plenty of chances, Eleven."

"Ugh!"

"The boss told us to rough you up a bit this time," a thuggish voice said in clear Britannian.

"It's the only thing you Elevens seem to understand," an equally thuggish voice said.

Euphemia couldn't just turn her back when someone was being brutalized and she had the power to stop it, and it appeared that Suzaku felt the same way. However, when she tried to run forward, he held out an arm.

"Stay behind me, Milady."

Approaching, they saw a cowering, middle-aged Japanese man, and two large, thugs, their heads shaved bald, dressed in expensive black suits and wearing sunglasses towering over the man.

"I hear you have a daughter. A pretty thing at that, for an Eleven. I'm sure the Black King would be more than willing forgive your debt if you were to sell her to him."

"I can't! She's all- Ow!" There was a sickening crack as one of the thugs viciously kicked him in the face, clearly breaking the man's nose.

"Think before you talk back, Eleven. She'll report to work by tomorrow if the two of you know what's good for you."

"Whatever gives you the right to assault that man?" Euphemia called out.

"What's this?" one of the thugs asked, turning around. "A Britannian student? Out here in the ghettos with an Eleven?"

"Get lost, missy," the other thug said, cracking his knuckles. "This doesn't concern you, or your filthy Eleven boyfriend."

"I am Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of Britannia," she announced, enunciating clearly. "I order you to stop brutalizing that man!"

The two thugs stared at her for a moment, and then they began to laugh.

"This one says she's a princess. That's a good one!"

"Where would a Princess be without her Knight?"

"Maybe that's why she has this Eleven with her," the other chortled. "They were out of good ones for her to pick!"

"But Elevens can't become Knights, can they?"

The two thugs advanced.

"Let's teach her how this world really works."

Suzaku leapt into action without hesitation, delivering… a spinning kick? It seemed impossible for anyone to move like that, but she saw it before her eyes, Suzaku turning 720 degrees in the air in less than a second, striking both thugs with great force, decking them instantly.

"Are they-" Euphemia asked nervously.

"They're just out cold," he reassured her.

Nodding, she hurried over to the battered Japanese man.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

To her surprise, the man all but spat in her face.

"Princess or not, we don't need charity from you, Britannian! Do you know what you've done? They'll be back, and the Black King will kill me, unless I make it up to him and pay double! You've ruined me, and my daughter!"

Getting up slowly, the man scurried off into the ghettos, clutching his ruined nose, without another word.

xXx

"I heard what you did, Euphemia," her sister said later that night, greeting her as she disembarked from her transport outside of the Government Bureau. Cornelia was garbed in a dark magenta viceroyal uniform, and draped in a floor-length white cloak with a high collar. Both sisters had the same blue-violet eyes, but Cornelia's hair was violet in contrast to Euphemia's pink. Not one prone to vanity, the only makeup on Cornelia's face was a bit of lipstick that matched her hair, but she was still considered beautiful, yet unapproachable by many would-be suitors. "You shouldn't be so reckless."

"I know, sister, forgive me. But-"

"You will address me as Viceroy here," Cornelia said, cutting her off, "Sub-Viceroy Euphemia. Since we're sisters, we need to follow a stricter protocol."

"Yes, I understand," Euphemia replied. She was sure that she would have the chance to speak later to her sister, the Viceroy, in private about what she had seen.

Cornelia seemed satisfied by this, and turned to one of the assembled functionaries. "Now, give me your report."

"Yes, Milady," the man said, saluting, "the first order of business is a welcoming party we've arranged for Your Highness."

Cornelia raised her pistol, long-barreled with a blade attached to the underside, and cocked the gun, pointing it at the functionary, who at once fell silent. It looked ceremonial, but Euphemia knew it was a deadly weapon, and let out a small gasp at how casually her sister leveled it at another human being.

"Sloppy… senile… corrupt…" Cornelia sneered, her displeasure and utter contempt clear. "Where are the Black Knights?" She demanded. I want the enemies of the Empire caught! Find the Black Knights! Don't you dare show yourself in my sight until they are apprehended!"

"Right away, Your Highness!" The functionary shouted, making a quick retreat.

"Now then…" the new Viceroy continued. "I want to hear your own account of what happened today, Sub-Viceroy Euphemia. Then I need to hold some interviews… there's a traitor here in the Government Bureau, I'm sure of it. There's no way the Black Knights could have gotten close enough to kill Clovis without inside help."

"Do you have any suspects?" Euphemia asked cautiously.

"Indeed, Sub-Viceroy. I've already identified a list of likely suspects. And the prime suspect…is none other than our brother's grieving would-be fiancé, Countess Breisgau…"

 **A/N:**

 **Two updates in one day! Yeah! Though this only a short interlude.**

 **Unlike canon, Euphemia doesn't have cause to recognize Suzaku in this timeline, as he was not involved in a highly-publicized trial. This, along with changes in Suzaku's backstory (evidenced by his earlier presence at Ashford Academy than in canon) leads to an inversion of the situation. While some of the dialogue is the same as in canon, particularly when Suzaku catches Euphy, and later Cornelia's first exchange with Euphy and the functionary, this in turn leads to a number of other subtle divergences in her interactions with them, which may have long-reaching implications...**

 **Also, SPINZAKU! No one familiar with Code Geass honestly thought we weren't going to see him some point, did they?**


	25. Sorrowful Refrain

"I thought for sure that the new Viceroy was going to see through my deceptions," Leila said with a sigh to the assembled Black Knights. "That was no meeting; it was an interrogation. I don't know how long she spent grilling me about my relationship to Clovis and what I knew about the Black Knights, but it was clear that she suspected me."

"Well, the significant other is all too often the killer," Milly offered. "And it doesn't take a genius to see that the relationship was progressing unnaturally quickly. Of course she suspected you."

"I think she still does," Leila frowned. "I doubt that she has real evidence against me, but it is likely that she hopes that if she continues to observe me I may give myself away or lead her to collaborators. I also no longer have the sort of access to the Government Bureau that I did when Clovis was Viceroy."

"She questioned Jeremiah too," Lelouch murmured. "Fortunately, he reports that he was able to convince her of his loyalty for now through their shared admiration of my mother. Before she was the Witch of Britannia, our new Viceroy Cornelia was the head of the guards at Aries Villa." Lelouch chuckled. "As I always say, the best lies weave in an element of the truth. Of course, he doesn't have unfettered access to Cornelia, but he's still well acquainted with the officials who remain from Clovis' administration, and can help us keep tabs on them from the inside."

"If her reputation is anything to go by, she's far more dangerous than Clovis ever was," Kallen spoke up. "It won't be long before she starts targeting and wiping out Resistance groups."

"True," Lelouch admitted. "She's more than competent at what she does, whereas Clovis' skill as a strategist was lacking, and his administration rife with corruption. But for the moment, her priority is catching us, as our actions are having the most destabilizing impact on her rule over Japan. And if we can convince the public that we're doing a better job at bringing criminals to justice that she is, she will have to devote more of her attention and resources to that in order to maintain the faith of ordinary Britannians in their government, which will in turn relieve pressure elsewhere."

"Seems reasonable enough," Arthur said lazily, stretching himself out on some cushions.

"But before any of that can happen, we need to track down the Black King."

xXx

The Black King himself was an elusive figure, but his minions were far easier to find. They operated throughout the Tokyo Settlement, running protection rackets, brothels, and most lucratively, Refrain trafficking rings. Many of the criminals they targeted were semi-independent, pledging fealty to and delivering a cut of their profits to the Black King in exchange for being permitted to operate in his territory. This sort of decentralized organization naturally had advantages in frustrating those who would seek to dismantle the Black King's criminal empire. The crooks who made up the bulk of his minions only knew a few names of consequence outside of their own smaller gangs, typically their suppliers, and the enforcers who would periodically visit with orders from the Black King or come to collect tribute from them, with dire penalties for those who fell behind with their payments.

Progress was slow at first, but the Black Knights continued to brave Mementos, and as they forced more criminals to turn themselves in, they saw an accelerating pace of returns. Not only were they starting to have a significant effect on disrupting the Black King's Refrain trafficking operation, but each criminal whose heart they stole now seemed to bring them closer to the Black King, spilling names of enforcers ever higher in his hierarchy. It seemed certain that they would discover the Black King's whereabouts and his true name before long.

Of course, the search for the Black King was not limited to Mementos. Lelouch continued to work his contacts in the gambling scene for information, and the other Black Knights kept their ears open for any scraps of information that might prove useful. Diethard was also a great help. While he was disappointed that Leila's trip to Pendragon had provided little new insight, the opportunity to write an expose on the mob in the Tokyo Settlement was more than adequate compensation for him, and he shared several new leads with Lelouch.

But as always, the Black Knights had to lead double lives, even in the midst of their search, and that came with certain duties on Ashford Academy's Student Council.

"I need you to give these to Kallen," Milly told Lelouch, visiting the Clubhouse and pulling him aside on a weekend morning. She produced an envelope, sealed with the Ashford Academy crest.

"What is it?" Lelouch asked cautiously.

"Her middle school transcripts," Milly replied. "I can't just hand them to her here at the Academy when other people are around. It might attract too much unwanted attention."

That at least made sense. Kallen's middle school transcript would undoubtedly reveal her half-Japanese ancestry. While the SSDF was now officially defunct at Ashford Academy, racism against the Japanese was still well-ingrained in many members of the student body. It would do no good to let that secret slip out. Too many awkward questions would be asked, which would lead others to look more closely at the Ashford family, the Student Council, and their loyalties. But…

"I don't mean to be rude, Madam President, but isn't this something that you could handle yourself?" Lelouch asked. This felt like a setup.

"Do you really think I'm one to pull a fast one on you?" Milly pouted.

"Absolutely," Lelouch replied without hesitation. "Doubtlessly there's a gold mine of blackmail material you could manufacture out of a misunderstanding of the situation."

"Well, you got me there," Milly said with a light laugh. Her expression then turned into a frown. "Normally I would do it myself, but my parents have set up another marriage interview for me this morning with some Earl…"

"You'll just scare them off on purpose, like you always do."

"You make it sound so sinister, Lelouch!" Milly chastised him. "Though I suppose people might have even more reason to think that Clovisland is cursed with the old Viceroy's passing."

That explained quite a bit. It was no wonder then that amusement park constructed by the late Third Prince had developed a reputation as an unlucky place where couples would break up with each other; Milly had been using it as a location where she would break up with unwanted would-be fiancés.

"They never see it coming, do they?" He asked with a chuckle. "Somehow, they always think they'll be different from all of the others who have tried to win your hand."

"That's right," Milly replied. "Once you've sat through a few dozen of these interviews, they're all the same. I'll be trying my hardest not to be bored out of my mind and at least put on a show of trying to please my parents."

"All while you work to sabotage the match."

"Yup!"

"Very well, Madam President. I will bring this to Kallen. She is a fellow member of the Student Council after all, and I am its Vice President."

"That's right. You can't slack off all the time, even if you're Zero."

"Really now? You're concerned about people learning Kallen's secret, yet you spout that one so casually?"

"It's fine! It's just the two of us, and Sayoko is in on it too now, from what you've told us."

"Nunnally doesn't know," Lelouch said darkly. "And we will keep it that way. I don't want her getting involved. This isn't a time to be getting careless."

"Right," Milly murmured. "Forget that I mentioned it."

"Mentioned what?" Lelouch asked with a smirk.

"Oh, you!" Milly giggled. "But there is actually something I forgot to mention… you'll need Kallen's address." She handed him a slip of paper. "It's written down here."

"I'll see that her transcripts are delivered without incident," he said, turning to leave. "Don't torture that Earl too much."

"What's the fun in that? But make sure you have fun too, Lelouch!"

"Get your mind out of the gutter. Nothing is going to happen between Kallen and myself."

xXx

Stadtfeld Manor was situated alongside one of the major highways crossing the Tokyo Settlement, but it was cut off from it by tall walls, gleaming white like the rest of the Britannian city, with battlements crowning the towers at each corner of the enclosure, though they appeared to be purely decorative. They were clearly meant to seem imposing, but it came off simply as heavy-handed artifice to Lelouch, stemming from misplaced delusions of self-importance.

Getting in was easy enough. He simply told the guard at the gate that he was a classmate of Kallen's, and he had been asked to bring something to her. It was the truth, after all.

Once inside the enclosure, he saw that that the perimeter was heavily wooded with row upon row of carefully arranged trees, which served to conceal the wall from view. An immaculately maintained lawn filled the center of the enclosure, with a path made of white slabs of stone leading to the manor itself, located about three-quarters of the way back. Stadtfeld Manor stood four stories tall, with two long wings flanking the central hall. Its slanted, orange-tiled roof was broken up by dormer windows, four on a side, and each wing appeared to have its own chimney.

Of course, the manor was modest compared to the Aries Villa, and utterly dwarfed by the Emperor's palace in Pendragon. While undoubtedly quite wealthy to be able to afford such a fine home, especially compared to commoners, to say nothing of Honorary Britannians or the Japanese in the ghettos, the Stadtfelds were only a mid-ranking noble family. Still, even an Earl with a home in Area 11 would have a grander ancestral estate back in the Britannian homeland. Kallen had spoken little about her family life, but Lelouch could only presume that the Stadtfelds either had significant investments in Area 11, or ties to the military.

Climbing the steps to the entrance, Lelouch knocked on the large double doors. After a moment, they opened, and he was greeted by a Japanese woman wearing a maid uniform. The maid's brown hair was tied back into a ponytail, and at a glance she still seemed fairly young, but there was a certain weariness that came with age that seemed to prematurely hang around her. If Lelouch had to guess, he would say that the maid was actually closer to her early forties. But there was something about the maid's eyes that immediately caught Lelouch's attention. While any fire that might have once burned within them seemed to have been long since extinguished, they were exactly the same shade of blue as Kallen's. Looking closer, there were other facial similarities as well. Could this maid be…?

"Are you… one of Mistress Kallen's friends from school?" the maid asked after a moment. She had a gentle voice, but the moment of hesitation made Lelouch think that she thought that he was another type of friend, and was simply being polite in not asking him directly.

"I am," he replied. "We're on the Student Council together. The President asked me to bring something over for her."

The maid nodded. "Just one moment, please." She turned and called up the stairs that stood across from the entrance. "Mistress Kallen. Mistress Kallen!"

"Lelouch?" Kallen asked, slowly coming down the stairs, dressed casually in a light pink blouse with a short white skirt and black stockings, wearing her hair straight as she did at school. "What are you doing here?"

"Madam President sent me."

"Huh?"

"Where would you like me to show him to?" The maid asked Kallen. "The parlor perhaps, or maybe - "

"We'll be in my room," Kallen replied coldly. A look crossed her face as she realized the implications of what she had just said, and started, flushing bright red, "No, I mean we'll -"

"It's alright, Mistress Kallen," the maid said softly, a warm smile spreading on her face. "I'm so happy for you."

"Oh, I heard you had a friend down here," a haughty voice said from above them. Looking up, Lelouch saw a woman standing by the railing of the staircase. Like the maid, the woman bore some passing resemblance to Kallen, for she too had eyes of the same shade of blue, though her features were those of a cruel beauty, in contrast to the maid's gentle features. The woman was clearly Britannian, a noble, judging from her attire, wearing a purple dress with a high collar behind it, and a white layer underneath, cut to accentuate her chest. Her long blonde hair was elaborately styled into what she must have thought was an elegant style, pulled up into a tall, curled bun, held in place by a thick red hairband, while a long bang ending in a ringlet dangled at the side of her face. She had further adorned herself with a long pair of golden earrings, almost teardrop shaped, and red lipstick. Overall, she had the look of one trying too hard to be like a fashion model, and could only be the Countess, Mrs. Stadtfeld.

"I knew it would be a boy," Mrs. Stadtfeld continued. "There had to be a reason why you've been out so late. Until a month or two ago, you were skipping so much school to sneak over to the ghettos that I was sure it was going to be an Eleven." Mrs. Stadtfeld's eyes narrowed as she appraised Lelouch. "I suppose you could have done far worse for yourself. He has some charm at least. Still, no there's no fighting one's blood. If not an Eleven, of course you would settle for a commoner."

The maid shifted uncomfortably.

"You're the one who's enjoying Dad not being around here," Kallen shot back defiantly, totally unlike the meek mask she usually assumed when not in the Metaverse or among the resistance. "While he's off for work back in Britannia, you bring a different man here every night!"

Anger flashed across the Countess' face. "You really are that Eleven's ungrateful child to dare slander me like that," she replied icily. "How disgraceful. I wouldn't have any need for you if I could bear my own heir."

There was a sudden crash. The maid had backed into a vase filled with flowers that had been mounted on a pedestal by the door, causing it to fall and break.

"Oh dear… what have I done?" The maid asked with a small gasp.

"What's wrong with you?" The Countess demanded in frustration. Clearly, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

"Forgive me, milady," the maid said softly as she set to work picking up the pieces. "Forgive me."

"Can't you do anything right?" The Countess continued to berate the maid. "Besides selling your body, that is." Mrs. Stadtfeld sighed, and turned her attention back to Lelouch. "Do whatever it is you're here to do, boy. No doubt rutting with her. It makes no difference to me. It's all an Eleven's daughter is good for. But don't you dare speak of this to anyone, or think that you can demand anything from us, if you know what's good for you."

"You…" Lelouch began, clenching a fist. The way Mrs. Stadtfeld treated Kallen… it was just like how so many of the nobles at Pendragon had thought of him and Nunnally, except Mrs. Stadtfeld didn't even try to hide her disdain behind a facade of decorum.

Kallen grabbed his wrist, as if to silence him. "As I said, we'll be in my room." She proceeded to practically drag him up the stairs with her vise-like grip, pulling him past Mrs. Stadtfeld.

"Keep it up, and you'll end up like that brother of yours," Mrs. Stadtfeld sneered.

xXx

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lelouch asked once they were in Kallen's room. It was a vast room with wide windows that let sunlight stream in, causing the crystal chandeliers to sparkle. Kallen had a piano with a barbell and some smaller weights under it, a desk, shelves with what had to be hundreds of books on them, a circular table with chairs around it, a large flatscreen television, a dresser, a mirror, and a four-poster bed in the corner. But for everything in it, the room felt too large, to the point of seeming almost empty.

"What was I supposed to say about it?" Kallen asked sullenly. "You knew that I was half-Japanese. Was I supposed to tell you that my real mother was that clod of a maid who knocked over the vase? Or that my stepmother hates me for being half-Japanese?"

"You're a Black Knight," he said quietly, so that anyone who might be passing by and decide to eavesdrop on their conversation would be unable to hear him. "If you had only asked, we would have changed your stepmother's heart for you."

"That wouldn't solve things. If anyone needs her heart changed, it's my real mother. She's such a fool. She loved my father, but in the end, she became just his servant. She doesn't have any real skills, but she stays here no matter how much my stepmother and the other maids ridicule her, laughing like its nothing. She didn't have to stay in this house, you know. She's just clinging to an old lover who's jilted her! I just wish she'd go away."

"You don't mean that, Kallen, do you?"

I find her depressing." Kallen sighed. "Still, I suppose my home life could be worse," Kallen continued evasively, not meeting his gaze. "Three square meals and a roof, right? I mean, it's not unbearable."

'You're lying, Kallen. Neither you nor your mother can go on like this!" Lelouch said, his hands shaking as he suddenly rose from his chair and tightly grasped the table.

"I can handle myself!"

"You've held yourself together for now, but I can't believe that the same Queen who is beyond a doubt our fiercest and bravest fighter in the Metaverse is willing to meekly sit by and let this injustice play out before her eyes, all because of pride!" he hissed to her, daring not to raise his voice higher, lest he give them away.

Kallen looked as if she had been slapped.

"You're hurting, and so is your mother. Didn't you see her expression when she thought that I was your boyfriend? Didn't you listen to what she said? She was happy for you! She's not here for your father. She's here to be with and take care of you. My mother would face down all of the Emperor's other consorts and their knights if it meant protecting Nunnally and myself. Your mother may not be a warrior, but all the same, she endures that abuse for your sake!"

"What do you know of my mother?" Kallen hissed back. "You barely met her. I'm the one who's lived with her all these years!"

"I can only tell you what I saw and heard, Kallen. You don't have to endure this by yourself. Didn't we promise that we would see this through together? I'm one of the last people who would have thought I'd be relying on others like I have, but I couldn't have gotten this far without you and the others. So let us help you, Kallen. All you need to do is tell me your stepmother's name. Once the others know what you and your mother have been going through, they won't hesitate. That's what friends are for, right?"

"I… Her name is…." Kallen finally relented, whispering her stepmother's name to him.

"Thank you, Kallen."

"By the way, what were you sent to give me anyway?"

"Oh, this," Lelouch replied offhandedly, handing her the envelope. "Your middle school transcript. But that hardly seems important now."

xXx

"What the hell?" Milly exclaimed as Lelouch told her and the others about Kallen's situation at home. "I thought I had it bad, when that Earl said, 'Why draw it out? Let's get married,' like it was nothing. But that pales next to what you're going through," she said, turning to Kallen. "At least I'll be able to ditch this Earl soon enough. I don't care what mother and father say. I'll find a way. You can't do the same with your family. You should have told us from the start."

"I didn't want to trouble you with my problems," Kallen replied sullenly.

Milly shook her head sadly. "Some things in life we can bear on our own… but when you add them all up, they eventually break you."

xXx

"Who do you think you are?" Shadow Stadtfeld asked within her Distortion in Mementos, her glowing golden eyes glaring malevolently at them. "Don't tell me. Are you those Black Knights who killed Prince Clovis? You must be. You sent your calling card to me."

"Yes, we are the Black Knights," Lelouch replied, not bothering to correct Shadow Stadtfeld with the truth behind Clovis' murder.

"Yet you're Britannians… students by the looks of it… wait a minute…" Her gaze moved from Lelouch to Kallen and back again. "Could it be?"

Kallen stood her ground. "You've done as you've pleased while your husband is away. I'm through with it."

"I thought you seemed familiar," Shadow Stadtfeld scowled. "You're that Eleven's daughter, who my dear husband thought to name as his heir." Her words held no affection whatsoever. Her eyes glanced over at Lelouch. "And you're her boyfriend, who came over the other day. It all makes sense now. You've been marauding with the Black Knights all those times you were out late, Kallen." Shadow Stadtfeld laughed. "This is just too perfect! At last I can be rid of you and your mother once and for all!"

An ugly look crossed Shadow Stadtfeld's face. "Do you have any idea how infuriating it's been having to put up with that ugly Eleven whore? Where is she anyway right now?"

"Milady, I'm sorry!" the voice of Kallen's mother said. A Cognition of her appeared and began groveling at Shadow Stadtfeld's feet. "Please, punish me for my incompetence! I'll bear anything for my Kall- ugh!" Cognitive Ms. Kozuki doubled over as Shadow Stadtfeld delivered a vicious kick.

"Thank you," Cognitive Ms. Kozuki said after a moment, gasping for breath. "I deserve this."

Shadow Stadtfeld drove her heel down into Cognitive Ms. Kozuki's back, causing the Cognition to gasp in pain once again.

"You presume that you deserve anything better than a miserable death in the ghettos," sneered Shadow Stadtfeld.

"Stop it!" Kallen cried.

"What's this? You would speak on behalf of your wretched mother, Kallen?" Shadow Stadtfeld jeered. "You, who always give her the cold shoulder, and act like she's a pest you can't wait to be rid of? Your worthless Eleven blood aside, how does that make you any different than me?"

"I…" Kallen struggled to reply, but only managed to mutter incoherently.

"If only you knew the true depths of your own cruelty, Kallen," Shadow Stadtfeld continued, twisting the knife. "Did you know that when my husband named you his heir, I agreed on the condition that your Eleven mother never be allowed to see you again?"

"What?"

"That's right, Kallen. Your father acceded to my demand too. But your mother… You have no idea how much she begged, throwing yourself at your father's feet, sobbing nonstop, pleading that she be allowed to stay with her little girl."

"So… it's true… she really stayed in his house…. For me…" Kallen was trembling. "How could she be such a fool… or maybe I'm the fool…"

"And my husband…" Shadow Stadtfeld's features contorted into a snarl. "My husband had too much affection left for that filthy Eleven! He broke his word to me, and let her into our household as a Servant! He would never allow me to fire her, because deep down, he still loved her more than he did me!"

"Do you have any idea how much my husband's betrayal hurt me?" Shadow Stadtfeld continued to seethe. "It isn't easy to look this beautiful, and I had an impeccable noble lineage on top of that. It should have been a perfect match. What did that homely, useless Eleven skank have that I didn't?!"

"You're one to talk about someone being a skank," Kallen shot back, latching on to her stepmother's blatant hypocrisy like a lifeline.

"What choice did I have? Your father would barely touch me, especially knowing that I was barren. But dashing young officers and other powerful noblemen were all too happy to console me." She cackled. "It really is intoxicating you know, being able to wrap so many foolish men around one's finger."

"Despicable," Leila murmured.

"I know," Milly agreed. "Teasing guys and getting others to do your bidding is fun and all, but you don't have to be a vicious harpy about it!"

Arthur hissed at Shadow Stadtfeld as only a cat could. "Queen and her brother took me in when no one else would. I'm not about to let you get away with any of this!"

"Are you ready, Queen?" Lelouch asked.

"I can't change the past…" Kallen murmured. Her voice gained strength. "But I can atone for it… and that starts now!"

"Foolish girl!" Shadow Stadtfeld shouted back as darkness enveloped her. "You won't have that chance," the now transformed Shadow Stadtfeld purred wickedly. Her skin had become as pale as alabaster, while her blonde hair had turned jet black, now cut short, but still in a way that one might consider stylish. She was practically nude, save for thin straps of snakeskin, speckled white and black that tightly wrapped around her figure, with a live snake draped over her shoulders, down her back, and along her right leg. Her hands and feet were now webbed, and she had long, sharp, black claw-like nails, but her golden eyes remained as malicious as ever. "Do you like the new me? It's the last thing that all of you will ever see."

The temperature of the air plunged, and large ice crystals began forming around them, significantly larger than those conjured by a typical Mabufu spell. Freed from Shi and Tsu's lockdown, Ippon-Datara easily weathered the cold for Lelouch, now resistant to ice spells. Kallen was not as lucky, and was knocked to her feet, her teeth chattering and her skin looking pale and bluish. The stillness and rigidity of ice was inimical to Kallen's passionate nature, and while the others remained standing, it sapped much of their strength. Whether Shadow Stadtfeld had gotten lucky or not was irrelevant, for she wasted little time in pressing her advantage. She lunged forward, raising a hand high as she prepared to rake Kallen with her claws, while her snake reared back to strike as well.

"Die!" Shadow Stadtfeld shouted.

"Ippon-Datara!"

Lelouch's Persona appeared and swung its sledgehammer, bludgeoning Shadow Stadtfeld in the side, sending her flying away from Kallen.

"Zero!" Kallen said, looking up at him with gratitude in her eyes.

"You little!" Shadow Stadtfeld screeched. "You'll pay for striking me like that!"

Jeanne d'Arc materialized, healing the Black Knights with Media. However, a number of them still seemed worse for wear. Lelouch understood the implications immediately. Of his allies, Leila was the best healer among them. However, Shadow Stadtfeld's offensive output was significantly higher than what Leila could mitigate on her own, so her spells would rapidly wear down the Black Knights unless someone else were to assist Leila with healing duties, at least until they could identify their foe's weak spot. Milly and Arthur together could probably make up the difference, but then that would mean three of the five Black Knights were simply reacting to Shadow Stadtfeld's attacks, and Kallen's ability to launch an offense would be severely hampered if she got struck with an ice spell. No, that would never do. The course he had to take was clear.

"Tama! Diamond! Go on the attack! I'll back you up!"

"Got it, Zero!" They called back. Master Cat and Medea appeared above their summoners, wreathed in blue flames.

"Garu!" Wind buffeted Shadow Stadtfeld, causing her to grimace, but she remained standing.

"Agi!" Medea conjured a fireball and launched it at Shadow Stadtfeld. The flames struck true, and Shadow Stadtfeld howled as she buckled under the spell.

"You've got this, Zero!" Milly shouted, performing a Baton Pass to him with a paw gloved hand, filling him with the power of Fortune.

"Apsaras!" He called again, casting Media over his allies. Empowered by the Baton pass, it restored them to peak fighting form. Even Kallen was back on her feet now.

"That's how you want to play?" Shadow Stadtfeld snarled, rising to her feet. "I guess it's time for me to fight fire with fire. Maragion!"

Bursts of flame erupted around the Black Knights, on a similar scale to the ice spell that Shadow Stadtfeld had cast earlier. Leila cried out in pain and fell to her knees as her Persona was struck, forcing her to experience what it must have felt like when Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the stake.

"Don't like fire, do you?" Shadow Stadtfeld laughed. "Now time to fan the flames! Though I doubt any of you will be standing after this! Magarul-"

"Not a chance!" Kallen shouted, as Suzuka Gozen slammed into Shadow Stadtfeld from above, interrupting her spell.

"Why, you little Eleven br-"

"I'm not an Eleven, I'm Japanese!" Kallen snarled back. Suzuka Gozen swung her blade, decapitating the snake wrapped around Shadow Stadtfeld with a single strike.

"Ugh!" Shadow Stadtfeld collapsed. The snake had been a part of her, and evidently she felt its loss keenly.

"What are your orders, Zero?" Kallen called back, keeping her stepmother's Shadow pinned down by Suzuka Gozen.

"Commence an all-out attack!"

Lelouch, Arthur, and Milly dashed forward, joining Kallen to pummel Shadow Stadtfeld with everything they had. As much as he wanted to help Leila, who was still in distress, they had a chance to end the fight, and he would be a fool not to take it. Shadow Stadtfeld was too much like Azazel, with multiple elements at her command, allowing her to ruthlessly target their weaknesses if given the chance. She couldn't launch multiple attacks at the same time, like Azazel could, but each of her spells packed more of a punch. He'd just be opening Leila and the other Black Knights to another volley of Shadow Stadtfeld's spells if he hesitated now, and that could prove fatal.

"How…" Shadow Stadtfeld groaned as she reverted to her human form. "Curse you, Kallen. This isn't over…. I…"

"No, you've lost," Lelouch retorted, standing over her. "Anyone can see that." The other Black Knights closed a circle around Shadow Stadtfeld. After a moment, Leila joined them, slowly rising to her feet as she summoned Jeanne d'Arc to restore her strength.

"Are you okay, Queen?" Lelouch asked, turning to the red-headed Black Knight at his right side.

She nodded. "A part of me wanted to kill her. But beating the crap out of her felt good enough." She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm a terrible person, aren't I?" She met Shadow Stadtfeld's gaze. "As much as I hate to admit it, you were right about what I used to think about my mother. I wanted her to just disappear. But there were good times that we shared together, her, Naoto, and I, before the war." She clenched a fist. "I want to start things off again on the right foot. And I know that won't be able to happen if I kill you. I've done a lot of things that my mother wouldn't approve of, but that would be a step too far." She laughed nervously, glancing at her fellow Black Knights. "Besides, I have a promise to keep. No killing, right? At least when we can avoid it…"

The others nodded.

"Just tell me what you want of me," Shadow Stadtfeld replied irritably.

"You'll stop abusing my mother," Kallen said firmly. "You'll tell the other maids to leave her alone too! And you won't be bringing any more men home with you."

"As you wish," Shadow Stadtfeld sighed. "But if you think that your mother is going to have a happy ever after just because you've beaten me, you're sorely mistaken…"

Without another word, Shadow Stadtfeld vanished into light. The still cowering Cognitive Ms. Kozuki also disappeared with its mistress.

"You did well, Queen," Lelouch told her.

She shook her head. "I can't believe that I was so blind to what was in front of me this entire time. You opened my eyes." There was a curious look in Kallen's blue eyes, peering from beneath the lotus mask, one that Lelouch hadn't seen from her before. It was as if she was seeing him for the first time in a new light. "Thank you, Zero," she said softly.

Lelouch felt the Chariot resonate between him and Kallen. Whatever that look in Kallen's eyes meant, he sensed that their bond had taken a major step forward.

"Ooh, you've charmed another one!" Milly piped up. "But what will poor Shirley think?"

"B-be quiet! It isn't like that!" Kallen spluttered, though her denial didn't seem quite as forceful as usual.

"Don't worry…" Milly said with a grin. "I'll give you two plenty of space when we get out of Mementos…"

xXx

Returning to the real world, the Black Knights headed their separate ways. Milly headed straight back to Ashford Academy, while Lelouch detoured to pawn off the loot from their latest excursion into Mementos. Kallen of course went straight home, eager to reunite with her mother.

Lelouch had just finished up his errands, and had begun to head back to Ashford Academy himself, when his phone rang. Picking it up, he saw that the call was from Kallen.

"Kallen?"

Kallen sounded uncharacteristically panicked. "L-Lelouch! It's my mother! She's…."

"What happened?" He said urgently.

"I got home, and…. I found her collapsed… there's a syringe nearby…. I think she's overdosed…."

Lelouch knew the answer before he asked, but he had to make sure. "On what?"

"I… I think it's Refrain! Lelouch, what do I-"

"You have to get her to a hospital right away."

"But she'll be… "

"Arrested for drug use and imprisoned," Lelouch finished. "But if you don't, she'll probably die."

"Right…" Kallen said, audibly failing to hold back tears. "I'm calling an ambulance now…"

There was a pause. After a moment, Kallen's voice returned.

"It's done…" she said miserably.

"I'm sorry, Kallen," he told her.

"Lelouch… can you join me at the hospital?"

"I'm on my way."

xXx

"I drove her to this," Kallen said desolately as they waited in the hospital. "If only I had noticed sooner…. She wasn't just breaking things all the time because she was clumsy… She wasn't always like that… It was a side effect of the Refrain… she was taking it to relive the times before…"

"What's done is done," he told her. "You're here for your mother now, and that's what matters."

"But!"

"You can't put all of the blame on yourself either, Kallen. You may not have treated your mother well, but you acted out of ignorance, not malice. Giving her the cold shoulder is nothing compared to actively seeking to make her life a living hell, like your stepmother did."

Kallen nodded, though she only seemed slightly less miserable.

What must have been hours passed. The uncertainty of her mother's condition must have been gnawing away at Kallen. Really, it was fortunate that a hospital like this would take an 'Eleven' at all, though Kallen's noble status certainly helped things along. For all of the ills that Britannia inflicted on the world, its medical science was among the finest in the world. If anyone could help Ms. Kozuki pull through, it would be the Britannian doctors and nurses here, among the best in Area 11. They might be as bigoted as any other Britannians for all Lelouch knew, but to negligently lose a patient would reflect poorly on the hospital and their own status as professionals, to say nothing of incurring the displeasure of a noble.

"Kallen Stadtfeld?" a nurse said, stepping into the waiting room.

"Yes?" Kallen was at attention at once. It was a bit too much like a soldier for the frail girl that she pretended to be, but the nurse did not seem to notice anything out of the usual.

"You may see her now." The nurse glanced at Lelouch. "Is he with you?"

"I am," Lelouch replied. He didn't care if they drew the wrong conclusion about their relationship. It was important for him to be there with Kallen and help her through this, no matter what others thought.

Ms. Kozuki was seated silently in the hospital bed, dressed in a green hospital gown. There was a vacant look in her eyes as she stared into her lap, seemingly taking no notice of their presence.

"It was Refrain, as you suspected," the nurse told Kallen. "We've flushed the drug out of her system and her condition is now stable, but the after-effects of Refrain remain. She's unable to talk much now. She'll recover eventually, but it will take time. She'll be kept under observation here for a day or two, but then she'll be transferred to a prison hospital to await sentencing."

"How long will she be in there for?" Kallen asked.

"I can't say for sure," the nurse replied. "But a typical sentence for Refrain use is twenty years."

It was typical of Britannia… turn a blind eye to a drug specifically targeted at Japanese, and then hand out draconian sentences to the already downtrodden and depressed souls who had foolishly tried to indulge in happy memories of the past, while dealers in Refrain, such as the minions of the Black King, rarely were punished.

"Twenty years…" Kallen murmured sadly. She then leaned forward, toward her mother, and the words that came next were filled with determination, even as tears welled in her eyes. "But you wait! I'm working to change things when you get out, I swear to you! I'll make a world where you and I can live a normal life again! So, please, Mother!"

Unexpectedly, Ms. Kozuki reached out with a hand and clasped Kallen's, causing Kallen to let out a small gasp as her eyes went wide. Ms. Kozuki's gaze didn't turn at all, still staring at her lap, but then she spoke. Her voice was weak, but unmistakable.

"Hang in there, Kallen…. Hang in there, Kallen… My little girl…. I'm so happy for you…"

Lelouch wasn't sure if Ms. Kozuki was actually aware of their presence, or if it was just a lingering Refrain-induced hallucination. But those words at the end… he couldn't help but hear them as an echo of when she had greeted him at Stadtfeld Manor just the other day.

Kallen placed her other hand on top of her mother's, her face breaking into a tearful smile. "Don't you worry… I will… I promise you."

Through his bond with Kallen, Lelouch felt an upwelling of resolution within her. Not only did it resonate with him, strengthening his Chariot Persona to new heights, but Kallen herself seemed stronger now. While there was no guarantee that tomorrow, or let alone the future that Kallen promised her mother, would come, she now seemed ready to endure whatever trials lay before her with newfound determination.

And so he would continue to stand by her, living one day, one moment at a time.

 **A/N:**

 **As I predicted, it took a few weeks for this one to come out, due to my real-world** **commitments. Fortunately, I have another vacation coming up soon, so hopefully I can get out a few more chapters then.**

 **This chapter is heavily based on Episode 9 of Code Geass, Refrain. However, a number of differences emerge through the chapter, leading to a rapid advancement of Lelouch's Confidant with Kallen. Before this chapter, I'd mentally estimated Lelouch's rank with Kallen's Chariot to be about 4 or 5. I'd say he's now reached rank 7-8, which in turn would grant Kallen the Endure ability. Maxing a confidant a few dungeons into the game isn't unheard of, but it does require a strong focus on that Confidant, and it may occasionally be gated by progression in certain Palaces, so don't expect that Lelouch will be able to complete Kallen's Confidant right away. Like anything, bonds do need time (and the right catalysts) to develop.**

 **Rewatching parts of Episode 9 as I wrote this chapter caused me to notice several details that had slipped by me on previous watchings of the show, such as the general layout of the Stadtfeld Manor, which is only seen for a few seconds at most in the series. The manga version of the scene also had some influence of the chapter, with Kallen explicitly accusing her stepmother of committing adultery while Kallen's father was away, whereas Kallen only implied this in the show.**

 **Though Shadow Stadtfeld is her own special brand of nastiness, in a Jungian sense, she in some ways serves as a Shadow archetype figure for Kallen in this chapter as well, forcing Kallen to confront certain truths about how she'd treated her own mother that she had done her best to ignore. Accepting her own indifference and cruelty to her mother and resolving to move past it and make amends leads to greater self-awareness on Kallen's part, again following the classic Jungian process of individuation, which Persona draws from so heavily.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Edit: Again, updated the title of Kallen's father here to the more accurate title of "Earl", while Kallen's stepmother gets to stay "Countess Stadtfeld" as the Earl's wife.**


	26. The Black King

"Are you sure?" Lelouch asked the informant over the phone. According to Diethard, this man knew the whereabouts of the Black King. Of course, Diethard was not one known for his journalistic integrity, but his information had been reliable thus far, even if it was always cast in the light most favorable to the Black Knights.

"Yes… everyone knows that the Black King is bankrolling that new commercial development on the outskirts of the Settlement… Babel Tower, they call it. One complete, it will be his new center of operations. But the Black King isn't ready to move in yet. He still has his old haunts. If you go to the address that I gave you, you'll find one of his favorite gambling dens. It's not too far from the construction site of Babel Tower, but it's a bit off the beaten path."

"You've done well. You have my thanks."

"I don't know why you'd want to meet the Black King, though," the informant replied. "Nothing good can come of it."

"I'm something of an avid chess player myself. I've been looking for a good opponent," Lelouch lied, yet as always weaving threads of the truth into his deceptions.

"Nobody's ever beaten the Black King, kid. You don't know what you're getting into. Just leave it and walk away from this while you still can. You go on a fool's errand."

The Fool… the arcana of his first Persona, Arsene, the one closest to his nature… Numbered zero in the Tarot deck, it was also the namesake of his Metaverse alter ego, the leader of the Black Knights. How had his power been described to him… empty yet filled with possibilities….

Lelouch chuckled over the line. "Perhaps I am a fool. If I could trouble you with one last question, do you happen to know the Black King's true name?"

"That's dangerous information. The Black King doesn't take kindly to it when people probe too closely into his affairs. A schoolboy like you can't offer me enough to make deem that a risk worth taking."

"Then I thank you for your time," Lelouch replied as he hung up.

This was frustrating… without the Black King's true name, they would be unable to enter his Palace. Still, now that he had a tangible lead as to where to find the Black, perhaps new insights into their next target would present themselves.

It was already getting late, he had a chess match to attend.

xXx

Lelouch looked up as he arrived at the address that he had been given. Judging from its facade, it appeared to be a bar or nightclub of some kind, though the heavily tinted windows meant that he couldn't peer inside. There was however a pair of muscled, thuggish bouncers standing guard outside, dressed in expensive suits, illuminated by lights from above.

This was definitely the place.

He stepped forward.

"What do you want?" one of the bouncers demanded as he approached.

"Just a school boy," said the other. "Scram. You don't belong here."

"Don't be so sure of that," Lelouch said with a smirk. "I understand that there's an excellent chess player here. I'm hoping to give him a run for his money."

The bouncers laughed. "That's a good one, kid. Now run home, before you regret it."

"A shame… I truly had been looking forward to the privilege of playing the esteemed Black King. I'm something of a fixture in the Tokyo Settlement's high-stakes chess scene. I would think that he would appreciate a challenging opponent for a change. The average noble's chess skills aren't quite what they used to be."

"Wait… this kid is serious."

"Who told you that you could find the Black King here?"

"An acquaintance," Lelouch replied, not giving anything away.

"Don't get cocky, kid!" one of the bouncers said threateningly.

"I don't know about you," the other bouncer said to his companion, "But I think the boss will be very interested this school boy. He'll have plenty of questions from him. If he manages to prove a challenge, it will be a welcome surprise, but I'm sure the boss will enjoy putting his one in his place."

"Hope you don't have second thoughts, schoolboy," the thug said, gesturing toward the door, while the other moved around to cut off any escape route to the rear. "Come on in. We don't want to keep the Black King waiting."

The lighting inside the establishment was dim, and it seemed almost hazy. There were a number of tables where a variety of high-stakes games could be played, and a number of people, were trying their luck at them, with hoots of excitement punctuating fleeting wins, which would soon slip away from them. Waitresses, dressed in revealing bunny costumes, moved among them, carrying drinks. Unlike the patrons, who were invariably older than him and Britannians, the waitresses predominantly appeared to be young Japanese women, some of whom might have even been younger than him, fearful looks in their eyes. Lelouch scowled. There was no doubt that the Black King was forcing them into far more unsavory duties, should a patron request their services…

He clenched a fist.

Of course, there were more than just gambling tables… there were a number of smaller tables and booths with chess boards atop them around the perimeter of the den. And in a private room in the very back, surrounded by an entourage of bodyguards that were every bit as thuggish as the bouncers, was a man who could only be the Black King himself, a large, dark-skinned man with slicked back dyed blonde hair, a thin beard ending in a goatee, and a brown suit over a red vest.

"What have we here? A schoolboy?" The Black King said in a growling voice, barely looking up from his chair. "This had better not be a waste of my time."

"He says he's in on the high-stakes chess scene and was looking for a challenge," one of the bouncers told the Black King.

"Students don't know much of anything, do they, boys? Hasn't he learned that the strong feed upon and devour the weak? This is the adult world. He shouldn't have come here, if he knew what was good for him."

"He was also looking specifically for you, Mr. King."

"What?" The Black King cocked his head up, eyeing Lelouch intently. "Is this true, schoolboy?"

"Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Black King," Lelouch replied with a smirk. "You're a famous chess player here in the Tokyo Settlement. But I wonder if your adult world really will devour the student, or if it will be the other way around?"

"Take a seat, schoolboy," the Black King commanded, stretching out and pointing with a massive hand.

"What will be the stakes?" The Black King asked, picking up a pair of walnuts from a dish nearby him. "I can't imagine a schoolboy like yourself has much in the way of money…"

"You wouldn't turn down a modest bet, would you, Mr. Black King?" Lelouch grinned. "Say, five thousand pounds?"

"Five thousand pounds?" The Black King asked, raising a thick eyebrow. "That's nothing for me, but quite a bit for a kid to throw away on a chess match. You really must have rich parents."

"Winnings from those other nobles who underestimated a school boy." Most of his cut from gambling went to paying for Nunnally's medical bills, as he hated relying on charity from the Ashford family, but he had saved away a sizable amount for emergency expenses, which he hadn't touched, even as he ventured into the Metaverse, instead funding the Black Knights with the proceeds of the loot they stole from Mementos and the other Palaces. But the Black King wouldn't be interested in a small wager, and he needed insight into their next target. Besides, it would be a missed opportunity if he was to walk away from his match with the Black King with a paltry sum. Like any noble, the man's pride would be his undoing.

The Black King laughed. "You've got guts, kid." He quickly squeezed his palm shut into a fist, crushing the walnuts in a single motion. "I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to teach you a lesson that you won't soon forget."

Without asking, the Black King chose the black pieces for himself. "Your move, schoolboy."

It wasn't Lelouch's usual opening. He had always gravitated toward black. Whatever black lacked in initiative, he had learned to make up for with his aggressive playstyle. Playing as white vaguely felt wrong to Lelouch, but he wasn't so inflexible that his strategies would break down at such a trifling disruption.

"As you wish," Lelouch replied, advancing a piece forward.

The Black King was certainly tougher than the run-of-the-mill noble. It was natural that the Black King would avoid obvious traps, as he could not have survived long as the leader of a criminal enterprise if he were careless. His playstyle was unsentimental, whereas Leila's undoing had been her hesitancy to sacrifice her pieces. However, he lacked her subtlety, favoring a brute force approach that had a tendency to telegraph his moves to Lelouch. Before long, Lelouch had him outmaneuvered and on the retreat.

"I'm wondering about that new project of yours…" Lelouch commented, trying to sound offhand. "I think they call it Babel Tower…"

"You think you can distract me so easily?" The Black King asked, eyeing Lelouch suspiciously. "Well, it won't do you any good. It will be a shopping center and casino that will rival any Area 11. People will flock to it from all over, seeking the finest goods and entertainments; a resort where they can lose themselves in extravagance. It will be the jewel of my kingdom."

Lelouch wisely chose not to ask the Black King exactly what goods might be sold at Babel Tower once it was opened, and the game continued.

"And that's checkmate," Lelouch announced after a few minutes. "It looks like you're the one who's been devoured."

"No, schoolboy," the Black King replied. "Such a naughty little man. You cunningly cheated me, and now you have to pay the price."

"I… what?" So Black King had no intention of honoring the wager. Mentally, Lelouch cursed himself. While the other nobles he had defeated at chess had always paid out of pride, he had been foolish to think that the Black King wouldn't resort to more underhanded means to get out of paying him. Yes, the Black King was a criminal, but he also had a reputation as a skilled chess player, insofar as nobles went, and he would have thought that word would have spread if the Black King was a cheater who would resort to such blatant intimidation when he lost. With how much Brittannian high society prized skill of chess, to cheat at the game was unheard of except by rank amateurs, and considered practically the height of dishonor, even for your typical corrupt noble or royal. But of course the depth of the Black King's corruption wasn't typical, and he cared nothing for honor, even in chess. Lelouch knew he should have seen this coming, but he had let himself be blinded by his own overconfidence, and for a crucial moment, his thinking had been as inflexible as those nobles he despised. The signs had been there, even back when the bouncers had tried to dissuade him from challenging the Black King, but he had ignored them. Equally foolish had been his decision to come here alone. He had no chance of fighting off the Black King's thugs on his own in the real world.

The Black King smirked as he produced a handgun from his vest. "Hold him down!' he barked at his thugs. "It's time to whip up a little evidence against the kid."

"You filthy lying crook!" Lelouch shouted back angrily as he was roughly grabbed and forcefully pressed face-down against the table.

"Fair play doesn't win the game!" The Black King sneered. "Learn that, schoolboy!"

Lelouch wracked his brain, trying to think of a way out of his predicament, but every option inevitably led to failure. But at that moment, there was a commotion that caused the Black King to look up from Lelouch.

"Unhand me!" It was a female voice, and one that one Lelouch recognized even after years apart. But that was impossible. Why would she be here?

The door to the room was thrown open, and none other than his half-sister, the Third Princess and Sub-Viceroy of Area 11, Euphemia li Britannia, was rudely shoved forward by one of the Black King's thugs.

"What have we here?" The Black King asked, a predatory look in his eyes.

"We caught her outside. She was trying to gain entrance, and asking too many questions about you," the thug who had dragged Euphemia in explained.

Euphemia seemed slightly dazed from how roughly she had been manhandled, but she seemed to be regaining her bearings. She was wearing a dress, cut in a considerably more revealing manner than what he would have expected from her, but in a similar style to the wealthy female patrons of the Black King's club. That, along with the facts that she was wearing glasses when Lelouch knew she didn't need them and that she had left all of her long pink hair flow freely instead its usual style, which would have had some of it gathered into buns at the side of her head, suggested that she had been trying to go incognito. But to what purpose?

Blinking, Euphemia's blue-violet eyes refocused, and as she looked up toward the Black King, her gaze paused as she saw Lelouch.

"Lel-" she started softly, disbelief in her voice.

No! Euphemia was going to give him away and ruin everything. Quickly, he shot a glare at her. Euphemia faltered and fell silent. But while catastrophe might have been averted, damage had already been done.

"What's this?" The Black King asked. "You two know each other?"

Neither Lelouch nor Euphemia answered that question.

"I was right," the Black King chuckled, taking their silence as confirmation. "To think that Third Princess Euphemia would stumble into my realm…" His gaze turned back to Lelouch. "So you must be her boyfriend. A princess of Britannia dating a commoner… I don't care if his Majesty married a common woman… it was a scandal then, and will be a scandal now." He gave a nod to his thugs. "You know what to do."

One of the men grabbed Lelouch, forcing him to his feet. They then shoved him forward, causing him to tumble directly toward Princess Euphemia. Instinctively, she reached out to break his fall… with the result that Lelouch found himself caught in Euphemia's arms.

A camera flashed.

"A charming couple," the Black King sneered. "But both of you are minors… you have no business in an establishment like this. The Princess will get off only with a sullied reputation… but you, schoolboy… the law isn't so lenient for commoners. I wonder what would happen if I sent this photo to the police…"

"But you're the one distributing that drug Refrain, extorting innocent people, and forcing young Japanese women into prostitution!" Euphemia protested.

"He has enough of the police on his payroll that they'll just look the other way," Lelouch spat.

"You're smarter than you look, schoolboy. But not smart enough!" The Black King laughed. "Otherwise you wouldn't have let yourself get caught by me."

"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into," Lelouch retorted. "I'll make you regret this!"

"I'm sure," the Black King smirked, before turning to Euphemia. "And I suppose you think your sister, the Viceroy, is going to bail you out of this, don't you, little Princess?"

"I -" Euphemia started.

"Viceroy Cornelia will kill you if she finds out you've threatened her sister," Lelouch said coldly.

"But she's not going to find out, is she, little Princess?" The Black King continued to sneer at Euphemia. "Your sister has been quite the thorn in my side since her arrival in Area 11. Between her and those accursed Black Knights, they've caused quite a disruption to distribution. But she doesn't know that you're here, does she? After the first time you thought to sneak off on your own, she forbade you from doing so again. Yes, I know about that. I haven't forgotten how you had that damnable Eleven beat up two of my men either. But he's not here today to protect you, is he? And if you tell Cornelia, she'll know that you disobeyed her orders. Nor will she look kindly on the schoolboy who thought he could touch royalty like that." He burst out into a laugh. "Even if she does act, the Viceroy can't arrest me without bringing down half the Settlement with me. Who do you think has contracts on major infrastructure projects, leases out commercial developments, and has enough of the police in his pocket to amount to a private army?"

"You'll prey on anyone, won't you?" Lelouch said with contempt.

"Just the weak, schoolboy. She may be a princess, but came in here like a lamb to the slaughter."

"What do you want from us?" Euphemia asked.

"Now we're talking, Princess…. I'll forget that any of this ugliness ever occurred if I receive a million pounds from you… Even a princess fresh from her debut should be able to afford that." He chuckled. "I'll even give you three weeks to do it… three weeks to squirm and realize how powerless you really are."

It was Lelouch's turn to smirk. Three weeks would be more than enough time to discover the Black King's name, clean out his palace, and make him pay for daring to blackmail them.

"Don't get any ideas, schoolboy," the Black King warned. "If I get the slightest hint that you're trying to pull something, I'll release this photo to the police right away. Now, the two of you, get out of my sight."

Lelouch and Euphemia left the Black King's lair wordlessly, escorted out by the mobster's thugs. It was only when they had left the Black King far behind them that Euphemia finally spoke, though it was almost a whisper.

"Lelouch? Is that really you?"

"Not here in public," Lelouch hissed.

Euphemia was a problem for him. While he had prevented her from revealing his true identity to the Black King, she, a member of the royal family, now knew that he was alive. Euphemia had been a childhood friend back in Pendragon, but she had always had a close bond with Cornelia, and Cornelia was now his enemy. The Black King might be blackmailing both of them, but that didn't mean that…

"This way," he told her. There was one place where they could be assured of privacy, and where he could keep her from talking if need be.

"Why are we going toward the station?" Euphemia asked. "I thought you wanted -"

"You'll see…"

Casually, Lelouch took out his phone, and whispered "Mementos."

The world distorted around them, but on the outskirts of the Palace, the distortion was not as evident, and they still appeared to be walking down a normal street in the Tokyo Settlement. Here, there would be no roaming Shadows to attack them, nor people to eavesdrop on them. Nor would he be forced into his Metaverse costume until he actually set foot inside the station. With any luck, Euphemia wouldn't notice that anything was amiss, and she wouldn't be able to find her way out of the Metaverse without him.

He led her to an out of the way looking alley to keep up the pretense of still being in the real world. "This will do," he said at last. "We can talk freely here."

"So, are you really Lelouch, my long-lost brother?" she asked. "This isn't all just a dream, is it? I promise I won't tell anyone." Tears started welling in her eyes. "We all thought you were dead, but if you've been alive all this time, there must be a reason why you didn't want us to know."

Of his half-siblings, Euphemia had always been the one he had been closest to, and Lelouch found that he couldn't help but lower his guard a bit, especially when she was so earnest. "Yes… I'm your brother, Euphy," he said using the nickname that Nunnally, Cornelia, and his younger self had always used for her. "I am Lelouch vi Britannia… though now I go by Lelouch Lamperouge."

"Lelouch…" Euphemia said, smiling, their dire situation seemingly forgotten in a moment of pure happiness on her part. "And Nunnally? Is she alive as well?"

"Yes, but she's still blind and crippled."

Euphemia frowned. "You must hate us in the Imperial Family…. Not only did Father exile you, but none of us dared to speak up against him, even when he turned Japan into a war zone… And I know there were some in the family who welcomed the news of your deaths, even if they couldn't say such horrid things openly. But Cornelia, Clovis, Marrybell, and I were all devastated…. And Schneizel… he's good at keeping his emotions in check when need be, but I think he misses you too."

"He probably just misses having an opponent who could almost keep up with him in chess."

Euphemia sighed. "I'm just glad to see you again, Lelouch… even if it's in a situation like this. First Clovis is killed, after admitting to all of those horrible things, then I get myself caught…"

"What were you doing looking into the Black King anyway?" Lelouch asked her. "You have to know that doing so alone, no matter how well intentioned, was foolhardy, and could have got you killed. Not that I'm in any position to lecture you too much about that after doing the same myself. What's done is done. We both miscalculated, it cost us dearly, and now we have to focus on how to turn the tables on the Black King."

She frowned. "I actually wanted to do something to help people, rather than just being a figurehead, so I snuck out…". Euphemia paused. "Wait, Lelouch…. What were you doing looking into the Black King? And why…" she looked around uneasily. "That's strange… even here, there should have been more people around the station…. Something's not right…"

She was more perceptive than he thought!

"You saw how it is, Euphy," he replied, diverting her attention from the lack of people around Mementos. "The world is distorted. People like the Black King and Clovis prey upon the weak, and society simply stands by and watches. No… not just watches… Britannian society encourages such behavior, down from the Emperor himself. It has to be torn down so that a kinder world can be built in its place."

"Lelouch… are you saying…"

"I can't have Nunnally return to the Imperial Family… they would just use her as a political pawn again. If the Black King releases that photo, we'll be discovered for sure. He can't be stopped if you limit yourself to the means available within the system, for it is corrupt to the core. I think you're starting to realize that, aren't you, Euphy?"

"Cornelia never listens to me these days," Euphemia frowned. "I can't tell her without making things worse. And if the Black King controls the police…"

Lelouch allowed himself a small grin. He hadn't expected Euphemia to be quite so receptive to his ideas. Exposure to the harshness of reality evidently did wonders for one's thinking. It was a major risk, and for a moment he couldn't help but wonder if his sentimentality toward her was clouding his judgment, but if he could win over the Sub-Viceroy, then the rewards…

"Then work with us, Euphy, and help us take down the Black King. You wanted to make a difference, right?"

"You're…" her eyes widened, and she let out a small gasp. "You're with the Black Knights, Lelouch, aren't you?"

"It would be more accurate to say that I lead them."

"Then… what really happened to Clovis? Did you…"

"Did we kill him?" Lelouch shook his head. "He was guilty of the crimes that he confessed to, but we weren't the ones who killed him. The real murderer is still out there.

"I… don't want to hurt anyone, Lelouch," Euphemia frowned.

"You won't have to," he told her. "We only target the guilty, and even then, we never kill them… we only change their hearts."

"I thought it seemed strange…" Euphemia murmured. "Why would the Black Knights kill Clovis in such a gruesome manner if they really wanted to change things? It made no sense…."

"The killer must targeted Clovis with a mental shutdown to prevent him from confessing, or to discredit us."

She nodded. "I thought so. Still, if Clovis was guilty of all of those crimes, I don't see how you persuaded him to confess to everything, or how you plan to do the same to the Black King."

"You misunderstand, Euphy. It doesn't matter what they think about it. We steal the very desires of the corrupt from within their hearts."

"But that's im- "

"Let me show you, something, Euphy." He led her out of the alleyway and into the station, revealing the true form of Mementos to her. At once, his Metaverse costume appeared, replacing his student uniform.

"What is this place?" Euphemia gasped. "And Lelouch - when did you…"

"This isn't the same reality that you know, Euphy. It's another one, alongside ours, formed from the collective cognition of the people of Tokyo… or perhaps even all humans. We crossed into it a few minutes ago, just before we started our conversation, but you didn't notice until now because there was less distortion from reality outside the station. We call places like this Palaces, where the strong and corrupt desires of a person or many people twists reality into a labyrinth reflecting those desires."

Euphemia pinched herself. "This is real…" she murmured. A look of unease crossed over her face, which became more anxious by the second. "I don't like this… This place is wrong…. Why are the walls… pulsating like that? I hear… voices… Lelouch… please… take me out of here."

"This Palace is formed by the people of the Tokyo Settlement as a whole," Lelouch told her. "As I said, this society is corrupt to the core. There's no reforming it unless we can expose its ugliness for all to see and startle the people into action."

"I still have to believe the best in people," Euphemia said quietly as they left Mementos. "They will change if they have hope, and if they see that there's a better way." She sighed. "But idealism isn't going to keep Nunnally safe this time, is it?"

Lelouch looked off into the distance. "No it won't, Euphy. If Nunnally and I are discovered because the Black King releases that photo, there won't be any safe place for her… especially because whoever crippled her and killed our mother is still out there…"

"I'll help you… for Nunnally's sake," Euphemia told him, with sudden conviction. "I don't know what I can do, but I owe it to her for my part in putting her in danger like that."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Empress Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

An unexpected reunion and a new confidant…. On its own, that would have made for an eventful day. But now it was imperative that they infiltrate the Black King's Palace and steal his heart.

But first, they had to discover his name.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 20**

 **(A/N): Next up, discovering the Black King's name and our first look at his Palace!**

 **Edit: SomebodyLost correctly pointed out in the review that I had Lelouch act a bit too much like his amnesiac self at the start of R2. In any case, it is a serious lapse of judgment on his part. I've added to the section where Lelouch is reacting to the Black King's cheating to emphasize how unheard of it is for someone to cheat at the game, even among a nobility as corrupt as that of Britannia, as a manner of honor. Hopefully this at least in part addresses the issue.**

 **And yes, to those who have played P5, I did base the encounter with the Black King on Kaneshiro, as well as the canonical chess match in Code Geass R2 against the Black King. That being said, The Black King's Palace and my plans for his Shadow are different from Kaneshiro's.**


	27. The Black Princess

"Beaten by some kids…" the enforcer's Shadow sighed. "If you punks could beat me, I guess I'm the weak one, and the boss's rule is that the weak are devoured by the strong. What do you want?"

"What is the Black King's true name?"

This was it. Three days had passed by as the Black Knights worked tirelessly to crack the mystery of the Black King's true identity, throwing their efforts in Mementos into overdrive. Diethard had continued to investigate any leads that Lelouch fed to him, and now that they had a physical description of the Black King, Jeremiah was surreptitiously working for them within the Government Bureau, calling in some favors with some acquaintances in Intelligence to find a match for the criminal leader. Even if it was known that the Black King was the one behind the ongoing construction of Babel Tower, he had carefully concealed himself behind a number of middlemen and front companies, but that veil of secrecy would finally be breached.

The other Black Knights had been less than happy to hear that Lelouch had gone off to challenge the Black King by himself. Kallen in particular had berated him for doing something so reckless, saying that she could have taken care of the Black King's goons, while Leila admonished him for rushing into enemy territory without adequate intelligence. Milly had predictably told him off for doing something that would have Shirley in a tizzy if she knew, telling him, "How many times have I told you that gambling would get you in trouble, Lulu!" in an imitation of Shirley's voice. Arthur had said he knew the Black King was a rat. Lelouch had tried explaining to them that approaching the Black King with a larger group would have only drawn more suspicion, but even that sounded like a lame excuse to him.

Then there was the matter of how close he had come to having his true identity discovered. In the case of Princess Euphemia, it already had been, a fact that Kallen was clearly uncomfortable with. She had warmed to him, as their leader, Zero, and especially after the incident with her mother, but she remained distrustful of Britannian royalty, especially anyone associated with the Witch of Britannia. Still, Cornelia hadn't come to arrest them yet or to force him and Nunnally to come back to Pendragon, so that was proof enough that Euphy hadn't betrayed his trust.

"I'm finished either way," the enforcer's Shadow said, bringing his mind back to the present. "If you really must know, the boss's name is… Blake King."

Blake King…. For a moment, Lelouch thought that he had heard the enforcer's Shadow incorrectly. Then he burst out into a laugh. In some ways, it was typical of Britannia, a pun, but not a very good one, symptomatic of the nobility's ossified thinking. Yet at the same time, it was fiendish in its simplicity. The Black King hid his true name in plain sight!

The first objective had been cleared… the Black King's Palace awaited.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 17**

xXx

The Black Knights had gathered on the outskirts of the Tokyo Settlement, joined by a certain pink-haired princess, her face concealed behind shades and a wide-brimmed hat. The sound of construction equipment filled the air, with several cranes erected around the rising Babel Tower, already an imposing edifice when only slightly more than half-complete, lifting steel beams high to be welded into place, while workers scurried about along the scaffolding that cocooned the structure. Doubtlessly, most of the workers were Japanese, and were being treated little better than slaves, with substandard wages, lax safety protocols, and Britannian overseers who would think nothing of terrorizing them in the name of productivity. The Black King wouldn't care if a few 'Elevens' died in the construction of his tower.

Jeremiah's contacts in Britannian Intelligence had confirmed what they already knew. That morning, Jeremiah had sent him an attachment with a photo of a noble named "Blake King", who was unmistakably the same man as the Black King. There was no doubt as to the mobster's identity now. And much of a debacle as his meeting with the Black King had been, some good had come out of it, for Lelouch was sure that he now knew all of the necessary keywords to enter the Palace.

"Blake King," Lelouch began, opening the Metaverse Navigator. "Babel Tower." He paused. A mere "Shopping Center" or "Casino" wouldn't do. Palaces were always in some way distorted from reality, and Babel Tower would be precisely those things when it was completed. But the Black King had dropped a hint of how he saw Babel Tower in their conversation.

"Resort," he finished, speaking clearly.

Lelouch knew at once he had guessed correctly as he felt a pulse from his phone and the world started to shift around him.

"Destination confirmed," the Metaverse Navigator replied. "Resort of Gluttony. Beginning navigation."

The world finished twisting, and a completed Babel Tower rose before them, clad in a sheath of glittering gold and garishly decorated in glowing neon lights. Constructed on a small artificial island in reality, it now stood along a sandy beach, dotted with palm trees, with the Tokyo Settlement standing like white cliffs behind it, and surrounded by crystal waters on the other three sides.

"Huh?" Where's the rest of the city?" Kallen asked. "We're on the outskirts of the settlement, so the ghettos should be right over there, but…"

"Look closer!" Leila called out, pointing up to the tower. Its sides were not smooth, but a hodgepodge of other structures piled on top of each other haphazardly, its ugliness covered only by the thin gold veneer.

"The strong devour the weak…" Lelouch mused darkly. "That's what he said… The city itself has been cannibalized by Babel Tower. I'm guessing most of the rest of the city is underwater, drowned in debts to the Black King."

"And the distortion stretches over such a wide area…" Milly murmured. "Even Coach Nu and Prince Clovis' Palaces were small in comparison…."

"It just shows how twisted the Black King's heart is," Arthur concluded.

"Wait? You can talk?" Euphemia asked, looking down at Arthur in surprise.

"Is that really the question you should be asking right now?" Arthur replied. "You're taking all of this pretty well."

"Well, Lelouch did show me that other Palace at the train station before… but this is still all a lot to wrap my mind around," Euphemia admitted sheepishly. "That you can really travel into a world inside someone's heart…"

"We don't call each other by our real names in the Metaverse," Kallen said sharply. She pointed at Lelouch. "He's Zero now."

"What should I call you then?" Euphemia asked politely.

"I'm Queen," Kallen replied, crossing her arms. "The others are Tama, Diamond, and Bishop," she said, glancing at them in turn. Sighing, she turned to Lelouch. "Remind me why we had to bring the puppet princess with us again, Zero. She doesn't have a Persona. She's just going to be a liability to us, and-"

"That's enough, Queen," he said firmly, cutting her off. "None of us had a fully manifested Persona when we first entered the Metaverse, yet your comrades are no less valuable as members of the Black Knights because of it. Besides, it's important that she see this, so she can truly understand how corrupt our targets really are, and that our methods are just."

"Persona?" Euphemia asked. "I'm already lost here."

"Personas are the masks that we wear. In the Metaverse, we can call upon them to unleash our inner spirits of rebellion," Arthur explained.

"You'll see soon enough," Lelouch reassured her.

xXx

The six of them approached the Palace proper, crossing the white sands of the beach. Along the way, they passed throngs of Cognitions of Britannians, nobles and commoners, who all seemed to be having a good time. Yet as they drew closer to the Palace, they saw that there a number of flimsy-looking structures dotted around the base of the Palace… a veritable shantytown, populated by Cognitions of Japanese people. The Cognitive Britannians around them barely paid the shantytown any attention at all, and most simply proceeded into the Palace, though a few paused to jeer at the destitute Japanese.

Euphemia frowned. "I've seen the ghettos before," she started, "But…"

"From a safe distance, I bet," Kallen interrupted. "You probably think you're being compassionate or something, but you're way out of your depth, Princess. We Japanese don't take kindly to being patronized."

Euphemia looked hurt. "Do you really hate me for being a Britannian royal?" she asked. "If so, then why do you follow my brother as a Black Knight?"

"That's different," Kallen replied. "Zero has proved his bravery and led us to victory time and again. What have you done? While you were being pampered back in Pendragon, he lived here in Japan before the invasion, and then he and his sister had to survive in the ruins. He can actually understand some of what we went through. How could you possibly do the same?"

"As much as I appreciate the praise, Queen, aren't you forgetting to mention how you threatened to slit my throat soon after we first met?" Lelouch interjected sharply. Kallen's antipathy toward his half-sister was troubling, and it showed that as far as she had come in the last months, with her making Britannian friends on the Student Council and in the Black Knights, some of her old prejudices remained.

"I myself am a Countess," Leila added softly, "and though it may not be the side of your heritage that you embrace, you are a noble as well. I don't see what difference a mere title makes. One's actions are what are important, not their birth or upbringing."

"I-" Kallen faltered. Lelouch couldn't see her expression behind her lotus mask, but he had a feeling that it was one of shame. "I'm sorry… I was out of line, Zero."

"It's not like you to be so submissive here in the Metaverse, Queen," Milly teased.

"Knock it off, Diamond!" Kallen snarled back with her usual fire.

"At least this time you didn't threaten to kill the Princess as soon as you learned who she was," Lelouch said, softening his tone slightly. "But you need to remain focused, Queen. We won't get anywhere if we're fighting among ourselves."

"Back to the matter at hand," Arthur spoke up, "How are we going to get into the Palace? I can't imagine that Mr. King is going to just let us waltz in the front door."

"Yeah…" Milly agreed. "No way to get in that way without being noticed…."

"Noticed…" Leila mused, raising a hand to her chin.

"I know how we can get in," Lelouch said after a moment.

"How?" Euphemia asked.

"Did you have a chance to see the sorts of people who were working at his club, besides the thugs?"

"I didn't have a chance to see much," Euphemia replied. "But there were those waitresses with the bunny costumes…"

Lelouch chose not to tell Euphemia exactly what sort of work the Black King likely forced those waitresses to do behind closed doors, as that would distract from the matter at hand.

"They were also predominantly Japanese. It's not uncommon for establishments to have a back entrance for staff, especially when the Britannian patrons look down upon them, not merely for being serving staff, but for being Japanese. The Black King thinks he has those Japanese working for him sufficiently cowed, and they're practically beneath his notice, as long as they do what they're told. It's not just the waitresses either… he likely has Japanese cooking, cleaning, and maintenance staff, all of whom would have to use the same entrance."

"That seems to be a reasonable deduction," Leila nodded. "Shall we investigate?"

The Black Knights did so, moving around behind the Palace, where the slums were denser, and sure enough there was a back entrance that did not appear to be guarded.

"Looks like you were right, Zero," Arthur said.

"Is everyone ready?" Lelouch asked.

The other Black Knights nodded.

"Stay close to us," Lelouch cautioned Euphemia. "There will almost certainly be Shadows inside."

"Shadows?" Euphemia asked. "I can tell you don't just mean the absence of light, Lel- Zero," she said, correcting herself.

"Monsters made of people's darkest thoughts and hidden desires," Milly explained.

"They are usually hostile," Leila added.

"Last chance for second thoughts, Princess," Kallen said. Her tone, while it was not entirely free of hostility, was much softer than it had been previously with Euphemia. It seemed she still felt ashamed of her behavior in front of her fellow Black Knights.

"I'm not going to turn back now," Euphemia replied.

There was nothing more to discuss, so the five Black Knights and one Princess entered the Resort of Gluttony.

They hadn't gone far when they realized that the back entrance wasn't as unguarded as they had assumed. There weren't any enemy Shadows on patrol, but there was a Cognition at a desk near the entrance. Its appearance seemed fairly generic, as if it wasn't based on someone who the Black King knew well, but was simply filling a role in his Palace. Its most distinguishing features being that it had the form of a woman and was on the older, slightly heavyset side.

"What are you doing here?" The Cognition asked. "This is the staff entrance. If you're guests, you should be using the main entrance."

They couldn't go through the front entrance, not without immediately drawing the Black King's attention, and the last thing that they needed was this Cognition calling security to forcibly escort them out of the staff area. They needed some excuse to be here.

"You misunderstand," Lelouch said smoothly. "My friends and I are looking for employment here at the resort."

"If it's a job you want, you should…" the Cognition paused as it saw the other Black Knights standing behind him. "What sort of jobs are you looking for?"

"My friends were looking into waitressing work," Lelouch said, continuing to lie effortlessly. Kallen started to open her mouth to say something, but Milly gently elbowed her as a signal to let him finish speaking without interruption. "As for myself, I was wondering if you had any valet jobs available."

The Cognition looked them over, up and down, particularly focusing its attention on appraising the girls. "Most of our waiting staff are Elevens, but we have been looking for some Britannian girls for our most discerning VIPs. I'm sure our female guests wouldn't mind having a handsome valet to assist them either."

"When can we start?" Lelouch asked.

"Right away, if you sign here," the Cognition said, producing five contracts, and sliding them over to the Black Knights. Arthur, as a cat, remained unnoticed at the feet of the others.

The girls glanced over to him uneasily. He gave them a nod, and looked over to the contracts before signing his own. If he would not lead, how could he expect them to follow? Reluctantly, they each stepped forward and scrawled a signature on the forms that had been handed to them. Whether or not they had signed their real names, or if their handwriting was even legible was irrelevant. If they could get past this Cognition without raising the alarm, the first objective would be cleared. Indeed, nominally being employed within the Palace would grant them the freedom to move through it more easily, something that would considerably assist their infiltration.

"Very good," the Cognition told them. "You are now officially employees of the resort. You'll find your uniforms in the changing rooms just past here, and there will be a short training video on your duties. Girls on the left, and you'll go to the right, young man."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Zero," Kallen grumbled as she headed off to the left with the other girls.

In his own changing room, there was a gray vest, a white shirt, and trousers, not dissimilar from his usual Metaverse attire, though it lacked the trench coat that he wore over the set. He hadn't tried to remove the coat while in the Metaverse before, but he was able to do, and set it down on a hook mounted on the wall of the changing room.

The "training video" was mostly just an expected montage about how to go about valet duties, but more useful was an overview of the layout of the Resort, with shopping centers near the ground levels, guest rooms and other facilities befitting hotel above them, and a casino and luxury penthouses on the upper floors. But at the end there was the reminder that one should keep their head down and accept their lot in life because the "weak are devoured by the strong," which caused Lelouch to clench a fist.

Leaving the room, Lelouch waited outside for the other Black Knights to assemble.

"What do you think you're doing, Diamond?" he heard Kallen's voice growl from within the changing room.

"They're almost as big as mine," he heard Milly's voice reply. "You're really going to wow Zero with this outfit, Queen."

"Get your hands off me, and stay focused on the mission!" Kallen snapped back. "That's the only reason that I'm wearing such a demeaning outfit."

"Are you and Zero dating?" He heard Euphemia asking innocently.

"No. Why does everyone think that?"

"This outfit is tighter than I expected…" Leila murmured, seemingly to herself.

A short time later, the four girls came out of the changing room. Each was dressed in a tight-fitting corset, pink for Kallen, black for Milly, blue for Leila, and white for Euphemia. Each also had a light-colored pantyhose that hugged their legs, a strap-on collar with a bow tie and matching cuffs, high heels in the same color as the corset, and a pair of fake bunny ears fixed to a headband, with a fake fluffy tail strapped to their rear.

"What do you think, Zero?" Milly said, leaning forward in a way that showed off her cleavage, and it seemed almost a miracle that her breasts didn't spill out of her corset and cause a wardrobe malfunction. She batted her eyes, peering out from behind her diamond-studded mask, and raised a finger toward her mouth, which spread into a wide, beaming smile. "Ready for some service with a smile?" she said with a wink. "Can I get you a refreshment? Do you need directions to the pool?" Her voice lowered and became breathy. "Or would you like me?"

"Yowza!" Lelouch heard Incubus within himself. "Make a move, sonny! She's offering herself to you on a silver platter! Don't tell me that you don't have any interest in those-"

"What did I say earlier about executing you if you got out of line?" Lelouch thought back. Now was not the time to brook any distractions, least of all from his own Personas.

"Ow, that's cold, sonny! You know, you'll regret it when you're older and-"

"Enough."

Incubus wisely fell silent once more.

"Will you knock it off!" Kallen fumed, putting her hands on her hips. She had combed down her hair into the style she usually wore at school, when she was pretending to be a frail and meek noble girl, but she spoke in her true voice as a rebel fighter. Lelouch couldn't see Kallen's eyebrows behind her lotus mask, but Lelouch was sure they would also show just how exasperated she was with Milly's antics. "Now isn't the time to be trying to seduce our leader!"

"Aw, you're no fun, Queen," Milly pouted. "Afraid of me putting the moves on him?"

"You're already trying to do that."

"I'm just teasing," Milly laughed. "Besides, I've always wanted to wear one of these costumes."

"It's so revealing…" Euphemia murmured, crossing her arms over her chest to cover herself a bit, even as her cheeks flushed slightly. "But I made my choice in coming here… If this is what it takes…"

Leila stepped forward. "While we're posing as workers at the resort, we should be able to move freely through it. As 'waitresses', our employment is on the upper casino levels. I can sense that the Treasure is above us, so we should use this opportunity to get as close to it as possible and scout out our infiltration route." She produced a key card. "This will give us access to the staff elevators. Of course, our cover won't last forever, so we should move quickly."

"I agree, Bishop," Lelouch nodded. "By the way, where has Tama gotten to?"

"Right here!" Arthur called out, stretching lazily. "You guys were taking so long that I ran on ahead."

"Excellent," Lelouch smirked. "Then let us begin."

The infiltration began smoothly enough. Using the staff elevators, they quickly reached the casino level, bypassing most of the Palace. The Shadows on patrol, taking the form of large thugs in fancy suits, or other waitresses in bunny costumes, seemed to ignore them, not seeing them as intruders, but staff who were supposed to be there.

"This is almost too easy…" Milly whispered.

"We're almost there," Leila whispered back. "The Treasure is close now… I sense it…"

"Don't lower your guard," Lelouch murmured.

"What do we have here?" a deep voice boomed. "New goods? Let's take a look at them, shall we, boys?"

Euphemia quickly suppressed a small sound of alarm. Lelouch knew that she recognized that voice, just as he did.

It was the Black King, or more accurately, his Shadow.

The Black King's Shadow was even greater in girth than his real self, bloated to the point of corpulence. His brown suit was switched for a black one, and he now wore a flowing cape, also black, but lined with gold. But most disconcertingly, his teeth had all become sharp, and there was not just one row of them but two, like a shark.

"They'll sell well enough, but I think the buyers would appreciate these bunnies some more if they weren't hiding their faces behind masks," the Black King's Shadow growled. "Get them."

The Black Knights immediately assumed a defensive stance, preparing to summon their Personas. But Euphemia stood her ground, directly meeting the gaze of the Black King's Shadow.

"What are you doing?" Lelouch hissed. "Get back here!"

"You have no right to treat anyone this way!" Euphemia declared. "People aren't goods to be bought and sold!"

The Black King's Shadow lunged forward, far faster than anyone with his girth had any right to, and roughly grabbed Euphemia by the hair, pulling her off her feet with incredible strength.

"I remember you," he sneered. "Didn't learn your lesson from the first time you tried to sneak in, Princess? What did I tell you? The strong devour the weak! That's the rule of this world… my world!"

"Let go of her!" Lelouch demanded angrily.

"I knew she'd a liability," Kallen snarled.

The Black King's Shadow laughed again. "You must be the Black Knights… I thought you'd be something more impressive… but you're just petty thieves. Now drop your weapons, or the little Princess dies…"

Reluctantly, Lelouch nodded to his fellow Black Knights, and they lowered their weapons. It wasn't as if they were entirely defenseless, as long as they had their Personas…

"No sudden moves," the Black King's Shadow told them, flexing the muscles in his other hand. "Keep your hands where I can see them…"

Lelouch glared at the Black King's Shadow. The implication was clear. If he were to reach for his mask, the Black King's Shadow would snap his half sister's neck as easily as the mobster's real self had crushed that chestnut a few days ago.

"Even a Princess like you can be sold," the Black King leered, reaching out to stroke Euphemia's cheeks. "Royalty does it all the time… What delicate skin you have… You were raised to be like a porcelain doll… an ornament to adorn the Imperial court and then be married off as convenient. Dolls don't get to talk back… And now that you've foolishly returned to my world, I can't let you off so easily this time… I'm sure I can find a buyer for the privilege of deflowering such an exquisite but delicate doll like you…"

"You won't get away with this," Euphemia gasped as she kicked and tried to free herself. Glaring with malevolent golden eyes, the Black King's Shadow violently threw her to the ground at his feet.

"Of course I'll get away with it," he sneered as he towered over her. "Your precious sister can't do anything without destroying the order in the Settlement she has to preserve."

"You'd have a fortune just from legitimate commercial ventures," Euphemia protested. "So why sell girls into prostitution? Why flood the streets with Refrain? Why brutalize so many innocent people? I don't understand! It's just pointless cruelty!"

"And I wouldn't be in business if there wasn't a demand for my services," the Black King's Shadow laughed. "The appetites of mankind are endless and perverse. If I didn't supply the public with the goods they craved, then someone else would. I see no reason why I shouldn't be the one to profit off the gluttony of the masses. How do you think I got my start anyway? Besides, once you have a taste of wealth and power, you can't help but want more. I'm as gluttonous as any of them. And so I'll continue to devour the weak. What was it that his Majesty said? Ah, yes… We will fight on, we shall struggle, compete, plunder, and dominate! And in the end, the future shall be ours! Indeed, that is the truth of this country, and the world."

The Black King's Shadow looked up from Euphemia, and nodded from his minions to the Black Knights. "I don't want my merchandise damaged too much, but kill them if they resist."

"I'm so sorry, everyone…" Euphemia murmured, her eyes downcast. "This is my fault... I got all of you into this mess..."

"Euphy!" Lelouch called out. "You're not just going to let it end here, are you? There's rage at this injustice boiling inside you! I know there is! Some may say that you're reckless at times, and they're not wrong, but you've always been been firm in your convictions! You know what's right and wrong, and you've never hesitated to help those in need! That's the Euphy I know! You're kind to a fault, but everyone has their limits! If it comes down to it, you'll-"

"Did you not listen to what I just said?" The Black King's Shadow snarled. "Kill him!"

The thug-like Shadows advanced on Lelouch, masses of muscle that would have no trouble snapping him like a twig if they got their hands on him.

"This is the end for you, thief," the Black King laughed.

"No!" a voice cried out. "I won't won't let you hurt him, or his friends!"

It was Euphemia. Pulling herself to her feet, she stood between Lelouch and the advancing thugs.

"What are you doing, doll?" the Black King growled.

Lelouch grinned.

He knew exactly what was going to happen now.

In the next moment, there gust of wind from around Euphemia, throwing the thugs back, and flickering blue flames swept around her.

"I'm glad to see that you're not going to watch helplessly, like a puppet with its strings cut," a female voice echoed around her. "You are no longer content to be just an obedient doll, and do as you are told. But what is more important to you? Being true to your sister, or doing what is right, and protecting those you love, no matter the cost? Shall you be a damsel in distress, or will you take matters into your own hands? The time has come to choose, Princess!"

"Forgive me, Cornelia…" Euphemia whispered, her eyes golden. "I know this is a betrayal… But if it's for their sakes… I shall become as strong as I need to! Today, I leave the weak, naive Euphy behind!"

Euphemia suddenly doubled over in pain, grasping at her face.

"It has taken long enough, but let us seal our covenant!" The voice exclaimed. "I am thou… thou art I… Let us break down the walls that have confined us, and taste true freedom for the first time! This princess has no need of a knight in shining armor to save her."

"What are you gaping at? Kill her already!" The Black King's Shadow ordered.

Lelouch laughed.

It was already too late to stop Euphemia's awakening… and truth be told, he had been hoping for this from the moment they set foot inside the Palace. Kallen had been right, of course. Until now, his half sister had been a liability to them. But what better way to make Euphy see things his way and enable her to protect herself than to turn the spark of rebellion within her into a blazing fire?

The winds around Euphemia howled, blasting back the Shadows back again as she ripped off the mask that had appeared on her face in a spurt of blood. A figure in a long red dress that seemed more like a robe and a head fiery red hair, crowned by a silver circlet, manifested above her. A long white cloak waved in the wind around it, and a necklace in the shape of the crescent moon dangled from its neck. Fastened to its waist was a sword, its sheath engraved with runic characters, and it held a golden orb in its hand that seemed to shine with its own light.

Euphemia's clothes had changed as well. She was dressed in the same colors as her Persona, but instead of a dress, her outfit seemed vaguely militaristic. It had heeled, thigh-high red leather boots over white leggings, fastened to a matching top that provided ample padding to her torso, but its tightness also made her chest appear much more pronounced. Her arms were protected by long leather gloves, also wine red, and she held in her hands a weapon that seemed to be a strange cross between a gun and a rapier. As she raised it high, a white mantle flowed around her.

"Protect them, Eilonwy!" Euphemia commanded.

"Try all you like, you'll be devoured all the same by my hounds!" the Black King's Shadow snarled. At once, the thugs transformed into a pair of monstrous two-headed dogs with long, spiky and scaly tails. At once, the twin-headed guardians charged.

"You'll go no further!" Euphemia cried. "Mabufu!" A wave of ice intercepted the hounds, freezing them in place.

"Impossible!" gasped the Black King's Shadow.

"You know what it's time for, everyone!" Lelouch shouted. "Sieze the initiative, and launch an all-out attack!"

The Black Knights rushed forward, and pummeled the two canine Shadows.

"You'll regret that!" the Black King's Shadow growled. "These hounds will fight to the death when cornered!"

Indeed, the twin-headed guardians fought tooth and nail, snarling, snapping with vicious fangs, and throwing fireballs into the mix. But the fight was two against six, and the Black Knights already knew how to exploit their weakness.

Before long, the guardians were no more.

"I'm not the weak doll you thought I was!" Euphemia shouted at the Black King's Shadow, leveling her gun at him, though a trembling of her hands betrayed that she wasn't quite accustomed yet to the idea of pointing a weapon at another person, even one as monstrous as him.

"You win this round, Black Knights," the mobster's Shadow spat. "But I am still the Black King!" Red lights began flashing, and klaxons sounded. "You'll never claim my Treasure… unless you can fight off all of my men at once."

"He's raised the Palace's security to maximum!" Arthur moaned.

"We have to turn back," Lelouch said, quickly assessing the situation. "It won't be long until the Black King revokes our clearances, and then all he'll have to do is trap us on a floor and drown us with Shadows.

"I agree," Leila nodded. "Are you still able to fight?" She said, turning to Euphemia.

"I feel suddenly tired," Euphemia admitted, "But should it come down to it, I'll give it my all."

xXx

The Black Knights managed to escape from the Resort of Gluttony, though the Black King was relentless in his pursuit. Even as they ran across the beach, floodlights from the Palace beamed down on them. It was only when they had regrouped in the entrance of Mementos that they were able to pause to discuss what had happened.

"Given how close we got to the Treasure, security is going to be elevated for longer than usual…" Arthur murmured. "I don't think three days is going to cut it this time… it might take four, five, or even six before things settle down there enough for us to attempt another infiltration."

"That's true, but I think there's another thing on everyone's minds," Milly said. "Today we learned that we have not one, but two psychics on the team."

"Huh?" Kallen asked. "Bishop's the psychic… I don't know what you're…"

"Don't you remember?" Milly teased. "You were predicting who would be the next person to join us. I distinctly recall you saying, 'What's next, a Britannian Princess?', or something like that. Congratulations, Queen. You're a psychic!"

"I wasn't being serious!"

"She's just teasing you," Lelouch replied. "But at the time, I wouldn't have dreamed of it coming to pass." He turned to Euphemia. "So what of you, sister? Have you seen enough to be convinced of the need to change the hearts of people like the Black King? Will you join us as a Black Knight?"

Euphemia nodded, her face now partly hidden behind a black domino mask. "I can't go back to how things were. I have to see this through to the end. But I won't hold you back… will I, Zero?"

"You did fine, sister."

"That's a relief…" she sighed.

"You'll need a codename then," he replied. "Might I suggest Blanc?" Not only did it match her outfit, but Euphemia would figuratively be his noble piece behind enemy lines, masquerading as a White Queen when she was really a Black Knight.

Euphemia shook her head. "I think 'Noire' suits me better," she replied, tapping her mask. "I can't let myself forget the sin I've committed in betraying my sister's trust and joining the very group she is searching for. Besides, doesn't 'Noire' show that I'm one of you now?"

Lelouch nodded. "Very well, Noire. From this moment forward, you are officially a member of the Black Knights!"

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 16**

xXx

"My name is Rolo Haliburton," the transfer student announced, making a polite bow. "From this day forward, I will be studying here at Ashford Academy. "I'm investigating the cases of the mental shutdowns around the Tokyo Settlement. It appears that the Black Knights, who are wanted in the death of Prince Clovis, first made their appearance at this school. If you know any information that might prove helpful to the investigation, don't hesitate to speak to me," he said with a smile.

Lelouch fought to contain his shock. Another spy at Ashford Academy? So soon? And casually announcing his role as such in front of the class?

This was not the sort of distraction they needed as they prepared for the next infiltration of the Black King's Palace.

 **A/N:**

 **"Blake King" is of course not the original name of the Black King, for no name is given for him in the original series. I hope you will forgive the pun.**

 **In canon, Kallen didn't really fully get over her prejudice against Britannians for quite some time, and she reacted highly negatively to Euphemia when they first met, so I reflected that here.**

 **The exterior appearance of The Resort of Gluttony is very loosely inspired by that of Tartarus from Persona 3.**

 **In the canonical first episode of Code Geass R2, Kallen dressed up in a bunny suit to infiltrate Babel Tower. Here, all of the female Black Knights end up pulling a similar stunt.**

 **Now onto Euphemia's Persona and awakening. Her Persona is Eilonwy, based on the character from the _Chronicles of Prydain_ (the novels, not the Disney adaptation thereof), which was inspired by Welsh mythology, especially the _Mabinogion_. Eilonwy is an early example of the "rebellious princess" archetype in modern literature, and notably in her first appearance helps the hero escape from her evil Aunt's dungeon and steals a magic sword in the process, qualifying her as a thief. I am playing a little loosely with the dates. In the real world, the first book in the Chronicles of Prydain, _The Book of Three_ , was published in 1964, while this story takes place in Ascension Throne Britannia (a.t.b.) 2017, which is the equivalent of 1963 in our world. However, seeing that I am already bringing in some characters and plot points that originally appeared in a.t.b. 2018 in the show (1964 in our world), I don't think this should be particularly problematic. And in any case, we can just say that Euphemia received an advance/draft copy of the novel, prior to its official publication in her world, if it was not released earlier. Or the Sea of Souls isn't simply limited to one timeline, as suggested in one of the reviews. As an aside, the nationality of the author of the Chronicle of Prydain, Lloyd Alexander, was American in real life, which would translate to Britannian in Code Geass' timeline, as the American Revolution failed in that world.**

 **Euphemia's Persona Eilonwy is resistant to Ice and weak to Psychic. Eilonwy hailed from the water kingdom of Llyr, and Ice is a form of water. Moreover, in the third novel, she was (temporarily) placed under mind control by her evil aunt. Ice is also an element which has been used by another notable Persona-user of the Empress Arcana, Mitsuru Kirijo of Persona 3. The Psychic weakness also refers to a certain unfortunate incident involving Euphemia and psychic powers in canon, though that shall not be elaborated upon further here, to avoid more significant spoilers for those who are not as familiar with the Code Geass side of the crossover.**

 **Euphemia's thief outfit is based off Cornelia's outfit from R2, when Cornelia was going rogue. In many ways, Euphemia has modeled her new self as a thief after her sister, whether consciously or subconsciously. Cornelia's lifestyle as a military leader and combatant is in many ways the opposite of the role that Euphemia was supposed to fill, so emulating her sister can be thought of her way of rebelling against being a mere "puppet princess". Cornelia's personality can also be icy at times, which is also reflected in her sister Euphemia's Persona.**

 **The distinction between Euphemia's chosen code name "Noire", and the codename of Haru Okumura in Persona 5, "Noir", is deliberate and not a** **misspelling. "Noir" is the masculine form of the French word for "Black", perhaps befitting Haru's very unladylike approach to combat (with an axe and grenade launcher). "Noire" in contrast is the feminine form of "Black". While Euphemia is still rebelling against broadly similar expectations as Haru, she nonetheless has a greater sense of restraint in combat, and was even more traditionally ladylike than Haru was in the first place.**

 **Lastly, it is needless to say that Rolo is operating in a significantly different capacity than in canon, which will affect the cast's interaction with him.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

 **Edit: Slightly revised Euphemia's awakening scene to give it a bit more build-up.**


	28. Swear to My Bones

Lelouch stood at the doors of the Clubhouse. It would be a while until it would be safe to infiltrate the Black King's Palace again. It was imperative that he use those days wisely, cultivating as many of his bonds with his Confidants as possible so that he could continue to develop his powers. He was planning to meet with Kallen…

"Where are you going?" Arthur asked, strolling into view and standing in front of the door. "Aren't you tired? You should go to sleep."

"I'm fine," Lelouch replied.

"No… you've already done so much today…. you really should get to bed."

Lelouch couldn't recall doing anything out of the ordinary that would make him particularly tired.

Arthur advanced, his claws flashing menacingly. "You should go to sleep now…"

Lelouch woke up with a start. It had all been a nightmare…. What a strange dream… Why would he imagine Arthur as some kind of tyrant determined to steal all of his free time by forcing him to go to bed early? It made no sense…

Still, the point remained that he had to manage his time carefully over the next five to six days, and following up with Kallen wasn't a bad idea…

xXx

The arrival of the new transfer student that morning, Rolo Haliburton, was an unwelcome complication to their plans.

Outwardly, Rolo seemed to be an unassuming figure. He had short brown hair, violet eyes, and had something of a boyish look to him. Indeed, Rolo seemed to be younger than himself. The image that Rolo projected in his introduction was of well-mannered, slightly shy boy, and some may have found it difficult to reconcile that with someone who was undertaking an investigation of the mental shutdowns and the Black Knights.

Of course, Lelouch knew that appearances meant very little. Kallen for instance pretended to be a fragile wallflower here at Ashford Academy, and most of the school would probably never believe that she was a Black Knight just by looking at her.

There had to be a reason why Rolo had announced his role so openly. The most obvious reason was so that he would have an excuse to ask questions about the investigation without it seeming out of place, giving him more freedom to act and gather information. But there had to be a reason beyond that. Perhaps it was a defensive tactic. By publicly announcing himself and presenting such an affable front to the class, maybe he hoped he could deter action against him. Not only would it turn the students of Ashford Academy further against the Black Knights, but it would more importantly telegraph to his superiors that the Black Knights were still active at Ashford Academy, especially if they were to change Rolo's heart shortly after his introduction. And there was a possibility that "Haliburton" wasn't actually Rolo's last name. It was a long shot, but if by chance Rolo had managed to put together that the Black Knights needed the true names of their targets, he could have assumed a false name to throw them off track, knowing that it wouldn't do the Black Knights any good even if he were to proclaim it for the whole world to hear.

In any case, he wasn't expecting Milly to be so quick to invite the young detective to join them on the Student Council.

Such a move was of course dangerous, considering how many members of the Student Council were involved with the Black Knights. But in retrospect, it did have some merit as a stratagem, that one should keep their friends close and their enemies closer. By being so welcoming to Rolo, Milly and the other Black Knights on the Student Council were effectively saying, "We have nothing to hide." Moreover, it was an opportunity to keep closer tabs on the spy in their midst, and to have the perfect excuse to distract Rolo from his investigations by saddling him with busywork and other duties on behalf of the Student Council.

For her part, Shirley gave Rolo a warm welcome, as she would for anyone. Thinking of it, she was now the only member of the Student Council not in any way affiliated with Black Knights or otherwise safeguarding knowledge of his identity as Lelouch vi Britannia, as Suzaku was. Shirley was just a normal girl, and while she had suffered greatly under Coach Nu's reign, Lelouch found he was always impressed by how well she had rebounded back to her normal, bubbly self. That sort of carefree smile always lifted his spirits a little, and it was when they were together on the Student Council with their friends that he found he could, for a time, pretend that he was a normal teenager, enjoying a semblance of an ordinary life unlike any he would have had back in Pendragon or the one that he did have as the leader of the Black Knights. Such moments were precious to him. He had no reason to involve Shirley in any of the Black Knights' Metaverse shenanigans, just as he purposefully kept Nunnally ignorant of his role as Zero, and with any luck it would stay that way.

"Have you had much opportunity to do some sightseeing around the Settlement?" Milly asked Rolo.

"No. I've been busy with the investigation, and I was back in the homeland before that," Rolo replied.

"Aw, that's no fun!" Milly pouted. "All work and no play makes Rolo a dull boy!" Her eyes lit up. "I have an idea to fix that though. Why don't I have my ever-reliable Vice President show you around?"

What? Why him? But while he was the leader of the Black Knights in the Metaverse, Milly was still the President of the Student Council in reality, and it would give him the opportunity to gain greater insight into his new foe, so he decided to play along.

xXx

"The Settlement might be as grand as Pendragon, but I didn't appreciate just how big it really was until now," Rolo said as they finished their tour.

"You've been to Pendragon?" Lelouch asked, trying not to sound too suspicious.

"I've been on cases all across the Empire," Rolo replied. "I've never stayed in any one place for too long though. But this case is different. The methods used by the Black Knights to change the hearts of their targets and cause mental shutdowns are not easily discerned."

"Why do you think that the Black Knights and the killer responsible for the mental shutdowns are one and the same?" Lelouch asked. "The mental shutdowns were happening well before the Black Knights ever made themselves known, and they don't strike me as the sort of group that wouldn't claim credit for it, since they've always sent calling cards to their known targets."

"That's an excellent deduction," Rolo nodded. "Though it's not a popular theory, I actually have speculated along those lines myself." He paused. "Did you know that recently there has been another spate of killings that the police have been unable to explain thus far?"

"I haven't heard anything about it," Lelouch replied.

"It's been kept out of the press so far," Rolo continued, "but there's a criminal styling himself as Medjed who appeared on the scene recently, carrying out several acts of blackmail. Several of his targets have committed suicide. At least, that's what the police say. But there isn't any evidence that they caused any real physical harm to themselves. Though it's not exactly the same, the manner of death seems in many ways similar to a mental shutdown. Some of the victims disappeared for a short time too before their bodies were found."

"Why are you telling me this?" Lelouch asked. "I'm just a civilian."

"True," Rolo replied. "But you may be able to offer me a fresh perspective on things. Besides," he said with a faint smile. "I think I can trust you guys." His eyes turned downward. "The police don't take me seriously because I'm a kid, and the Viceroy is wary of anyone from the outside coming in to help with the investigation. It's like she thinks I'm there to spy on her."

"Is she wrong?"

Rolo chuckled. "I suppose not. I of course report on anything of interest that I discover during my investigations, but at this time I have no reason to suspect that Viceroy Cornelia is anything but loyal and carrying out her own investigation into the Black Knights to the best of her abilities. She's very determined to catch the Third Prince's killer."

"He was her half-brother," Lelouch nodded. "In spite of all those crimes he confessed to, people will go to any lengths for their families, and that's true of the Viceroy as well."

"Family, huh?" Rolo mused. "I think we'll get along just fine, Lelouch."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Moon Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

So he had forged a bond with the spy? Very well then… He would be sure to exploit this new bond to the fullest…

xXx

"Big brother, you're home!" Nunnally said happily as he walked into their living room in the Clubhouse.

"Sorry I'm late, Nunnally… I was showing the new transfer student around the Settlement."

"It's okay…. I got back later myself… I thought you would be here before me."

Lelouch paused. That was odd.

"What were you doing out so late, Nunnally?"

"My trip to the hospital took longer than expected," she replied.

That seemed reasonable enough, yet there was a nagging feeling in his mind that something wasn't quite right here.

Lelouch shook his head. What was he thinking? His little sister had never lied to him. Besides, she had been the one to make him promise to eat a thousand needles if he lied to her.

He hoped that she never found out…

"Do you think my sight will ever return, Lelouch?" she asked. "I know my legs were damaged beyond repair, but they say that my eyes should still work. There's just so much I wish I could see…"

Lelouch frowned. By all indications, Nunnally's blindness was psychosomatic. There was every reason that she could see again… if only she could come to terms with something as traumatic as seeing their mother murdered right in front of her…

"I think you will, one day," he told her, urged on by Kodama, a tree spirit and a Persona of the Star Arcana dwelling within him. The Star was a symbol of hope, and Kodama assured him that Nunnally could grow beyond her limitations.

His sister smiled gently. Thinking back to what Kallen had said to her mother, he continued, "I'll make a world more beautiful than the one you remember for when you open your eyes, Nunnally."

"You don't need to do anything for my sake," she replied. "All I need to be happy is you, big brother."

Lelouch felt the Star resonate within him, a fortuitous sign.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 15**

"Why did you want to meet me here, Kallen?" Lelouch asked. They had arrived at the old Tokyo Tower. Damaged during the war, the top half of the iconic structure had fallen off, leaving just twisted metal above its main observation deck, which had been repurposed into the Britannian Victory Memorial Center. He couldn't imagine that it was because she was interested in the exhibits.

The museum featured a number of artifacts from the war: anti-tank guns, photographs of the first advance of Knightmare Frames in combat, maps of the conflict and more, so in a sense the museum could be considered educational, except for the fact that it was blatantly designed as as pro-Britannian propaganda. An audio guide on the loudspeaker system even said, "Britannia's resounding victory over Japan opened the unenlightened nation's eyes to it's true place in today's world order. Since then the Empire and Area 11 have walked hand in hand down the road to revival…"

It was the sort of thing that would make Kallen's blood boil.

No one seemed to think there was anything there was anything unusual about the two of them being there. Kallen could pass flawlessly as a full-blooded Britannian, and Lelouch was just another schoolboy to any onlookers. In fact, the other visitors probably thought they were just a couple out on date…

"I've been thinking about a lot of things, Lelouch," she said quietly as they stood beside each other, alone on the upper level of the observation deck, looking out at the city and the ghettos beyond. "You probably already know, but my mother has been transferred into a prison hospital."

He nodded somberly, still regretful that he hadn't been able to help her sooner. "How are you holding up, Kallen?"

"Things have been quiet around the house… my stepmother has mellowed out and no longer treats me like I'm a stain that she's forced to tolerate. She even called Dad and apologized for everything." She sighed. "But it's been too quiet… Naoto's dead, Mom's imprisoned, Dad's in the Empire, and my stepmother just carries on now that her desires have been stolen…. There's no life in there…"

"It needed to be done," he told her. If Mrs. Stadtfeld's desires had continued to run rampant, who knew what might have become of Kallen and her mother?

"I'm really sorry for the other day," Kallen said. "I was out of line…" She shook her head… "I can't forgive what Britannia did to us…. This awful museum represents everything Britannia has done to try to stamp out our culture… And when I look out into the city, I see the ghettos, where too many Japanese people live in poverty and desperation, while Britannians live in luxury right beside them, too wrapped up in themselves to care… or they delight in trying to crush what hope we have left." She sighed. "But not all Britannians are like that… I should know that better than anyone… " She let out a small, self-derisive laugh. "I rejected anything Britannian… but now my closest allies are Britannians…. and I even fell for a prince… I guess my mother and I aren't so different after all."

Wait, what? Had he just heard that correctly?

"Say something, Lelouch." Kallen said suddenly, her cheeks flushing a deep red. "This isn't easy for me to say, you know."

He had noticed that Kallen's behavior around him had changed lately… But she liked him in that way? He felt a sudden throbbing in his chest, throwing him off balance.

"What did you think would happen?" Kallen continued. "I had all but accepted that I would die trying to avenge my brother, but then you appeared, gave me something to fight for, and helped me awaken to my other self. You became our daring leader. Then... you got me to open my eyes about my mother, and were there for me when I needed it most..."

This was a very delicate moment. Whatever he said next could redefine his relationship with Kallen, for better or for worse. He knew he couldn't remain silent, since Kallen would take that as a rejection of her, which couldn't lead to anything good.

"From the very beginning, Kallen, you have been my most steadfast ally," he began. "Your determination has carried us to victory again and again. I can't say what the future will bring, Kallen, but no matter what happens we will walk that road together."

"Lelouch…" Kallen said, a look of pure happiness on her face. Without warning, she pulled him into an embrace and kissed him.

Huh? Where had that come from? He had just been trying to reaffirm the promise they had made to each other, but…

"I'm sorry if that was too forward of me…" Kallen said, looking away as she broke the kiss. "If I stole…"

Lelouch knew well enough that stealing somebody's first kiss without their consent was an especially serious taboo in Japanese culture. To merely engage in a public display of affection, let alone kiss someone, was considered far more intimate than in Britannian culture. She really was serious about this.

"Don't apologize, Kallen," he told her. It wouldn't do if the Queen of the Black Knights were to be paralyzed by self-doubt. And while unexpected... it was not entirely unwelcome.

"Thank you, Lelouch," she murmured.

There was an awkward pause.

"There is… something else I'd like to show you…" she said after a moment.

xXx

Lelouch joined Kallen back in her room at Stadtfeld Manor. Kallen walked back over to him, holding a framed photograph. It appeared to be a family photo, with Mount Fuji, unmarred by the Sakuradite mining operations in the background. There was a young Kallen on the left, an older boy with reddish-brown hair who could only be her brother, and a woman standing between them, whose face was covered by rabbit stickers.

Kallen slowly peeled off the stickers, revealing the face of her mother.

"I know the road ahead isn't going to be easy," she said. "The Black King, whose drugs laid my mother and so many Japanese low, is still out there. And we've only begun the fight against Britannia's tyranny. We really will be able to change the world for the better, right?"

"We've already fought so hard to get here," Lelouch replied. "And I won't pretend that the way ahead will be without sacrifices. But we will change the world. We must. Not only for your mother's sake, or my sister's, but for everyone oppressed by Britannia. We'll destroy this world and make it anew. You aren't having second thoughts now, are you, Kallen?"

She shook her head. "I've already made my choice, Lelouch. I'll follow you, to the very end."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath

Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion

And break the yoke of thy heart.

Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret

of the Chariot, granting thee infinite power…

A voice, much like Tsu's, rang out in his mind. "You shall now be able to fuse Haraedo-no-Okami, the most powerful Persona of the Chariot Arcana…" The voice turned into a snicker. "When you're strong enough, that is."

Lelouch suddenly felt a powerful resonance in the bond between him and Kallen, and a pulse of power was released. Suddenly, the two of them were alone in a sea of blue. Suzuka Gozen appeared before them, the chains connecting it to Kallen shattering as blue-white energy converged around it. There was a flash, and Suzuka Gozen was engulfed in light.

Kallen gasped.

As the light cleared, Suzuka Gozen has been transfigured… Kallen's Persona was still red, but its claws were now golden, and the female bandit was now heavily armored, more closely resembling a Knightmare Frame than anything else. No… it wasn't just a bandit anymore… Kallen's Persona let out a roar promising only damnation, the sonic blast unleashed threatening to scour away anything in its path. Infernal wings, blazing with nuclear energy, spread wide, and Lelouch knew it wasn't just a Knightmare Frame either.

It was a demon, and an embodiment of hell.

"Is this my true power?" Kallen whispered in awe. "Guren Jigoku… The Crimson Hell."

Kallen flexed her fingers, and Guren Jigoku did so as well.

"Incredible… and it's all thanks to you."

Guren Jigoku faded from view, and Lelouch and Kallen found themselves back in reality.

"To think I had such power within me all along…" Kallen murmured. "With this, nothing will stop us. We'll crush that Black King and defeat Britannia together!" She declared, clenching her hand into a fist.

"All in due time," he told her.

"I know…" Kallen frowned. "We've got to wait for that blasted security to loosen up. Even if I do feel like I could take on the Empire right now."

They sat together in silence, still processing the miracle they had witnessed.

Finally, Kallen spoke up. "We still have some time… don't we…"

"Yes," Lelouch nodded. What was she getting at?

"I am your Queen, right?"

"Of course."

"Then prove it, Zero."

He swallowed.

xXx

Lelouch arrived back late from the Stadtfeld Manor that night.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 14**

xXx

Cell walls lined in Blue Velvet appeared before Lelouch as his eyes opened.

"Welcome, Trickster," Igor's deep voice said as he leaned lazily in his chair. "I must congratulate you on making a major step forward on your rehabilitation."

"Must you be a voyeur?" Lelouch replied irritably.

"I would be remiss in my duties if I did not follow the development of your bonds closely," Igor chuckled.

"Score!" Incubus hooted within him.

Lelouch scowled. "Tsu?"

"Yes, Inmate?" She asked, a mocking smile on her face.

"Execute Incubus for me."

"Wait! No! I didn't mean-" the Persona shrieked as Tsu dragged it over to the guillotine and roughly thrust a sack over its head.

The blades fell, beheading Incubus and Makami, and giving rise to a new Persona.

"I'm High Pixie. They don't call me a 'high' pixie for nothing! I'll be your mask and show you the real reason why!" the Persona said as it fluttered above the floor of the Velvet Room on four wings, infused with the power of his bond, however reluctant, with Igor.

"So much for that nuisance," Lelouch muttered to himself as High Pixie vanished.

"Pleased with your conquest, Inmate?" Tsu asked, smiling maliciously as ever.

"You…"

"Unlike poor Incubus there, you can't execute me," Tsu smirked. "You're still far too weak to pose even the slightest challenge to me."

"Can you and Mr. Inmate stop fighting?" Shi asked, looking uncomfortable.

"This is a conversation for grown-ups, little sister," Tsu chastised. "You shouldn't be eavesdropping on it."

"I want to summon Andras," Lelouch sighed. He needed a replacement Devil Persona for his meetings with Diethard.

"Are you sure?" Tsu asked. "Whereas Incubus is a demon of lust, Andras is a demon of wrath…. The devil you know may be better than the devil you don't."

"I don't care. Just summon Andras."

"That will be thirty-two pounds and twenty-six pence," she replied. "You're buying me a lot of pizza."

"Be quiet."

The pages of the Compendium flipped, and a Persona with the body of a man, angelic wings, and an owl's head appeared.

"I am Andras. You want to make me your mask...? You're an odd one. Don't blame me if you end up getting killed."

Lelouch continued to summon Personas from the Compendium, and instructed the sisters to execute Obariyon and Nekomata. From their demise emerged a Persona with the form of a skeletal bullfighter.

"I am Matador. This body of mine, born from the bloody throes of battle, shall be with you as a mask from now on."

"I believe this is what you wanted?" he asked Tsu. "Matador with Magaru?"

"Hmmm…," she said, inspecting the Persona. "Do you know why I asked to you make Matador?"

"Because a Matador must face death head on, waiting until the last possible moment to make his move," Lelouch replied.

"And like all men, he eventually dies no matter what he does," Tsu finished. "It's pointless. So why go on?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand. You're cloistered away from humanity here. There is so much to life that you've closed yourself off to."

Tsu glared at him.

"So what Persona will I have to make for you this time?" He asked after a moment.

"My next request is nothing so trite as a Persona fusion," she replied.

"What is it then?"

"I'm not telling."

"What are you planning?" He asked suspiciously.

"You'll see," Tsu smirked.

The prison bell rang.

"It is time for you to return to the real world, Trickster," Igor said. "Until we meet again…"

xXx

Lelouch blinked his eyes. The night before seemed like a blur…. Had that really happened, or had it been just a dream? Was Incubus still taunting him from beyond the grave even now?

He felt something lying next to him on the bed. Was that… Kallen? No… that didn't make sense. Kallen had a four-poster bed. This was definitely his own bed and his own room. So who was that next to…

"I see you're awake, Inmate."

Lelouch leaped out of his bed at once.

"No… that's impossible… you can't be here! I must still be dreaming!"

"Says who?" the green-haired girl asked, her golden eyes glinting in the morning light as she stretched herself out on his bed. "You know, you were right about something, Inmate. I had forgotten just how comfortable a proper bed could be."

"What are you doing here?" he demanded, still staring at Tsu in disbelief. "You only show up in the real world to guard the entrance to the Velvet Room!" he hissed.

"It seems you're not as observant as I thought," Tsu said, glancing toward the wall. Lelouch turned to follow her gaze.

"Since when has that been there?!"

An entrance to the Velvet Room had appeared in his bedroom, its ghostly bars faintly glowing blue.

"I just put it there," Tsu replied offhandedly. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. If anything, you should be thanking me, Inmate. Now it's more convenient than ever for you to execute Personas or summon up replacements from the Compendium."

"You still haven't answered my original question: what are you doing here?"

"Are you usually this slow in the morning, Inmate? You said I cloistered myself away from humanity. So I've decided to manifest myself more fully in this world."

She was infuriating! But he was powerless to force her to leave his room. Tsu looked human, but she was a being of the collective unconscious of unfathomable power, and if there was any truth to her boasting, she could effortlessly annihilate him on a whim.

"Relax… I can't use my Personas outside of the Metaverse…" Tsu said, as if reading his thoughts. "For most practical purposes, I'm just a normal girl here."

Unsaid was the threat, "Cross me in this world and I will make you pay the next time you return to the Velvet Room." And of course, those purposes for which Tsu could not be considered a normal girl while in the real world would probably be the most important ones.

"To answer your question, my request is that you permit me to observe you more closely in this world, Inmate. I'll think of something more specific later."

"Master Lelouch? Is someone with you?"

That was Sayoko's voice.

How was he supposed to explain this to her?

"I thought you said people couldn't hear you in the real world," Lelouch hissed to Tsu.

"That used to be the case, but now that I've so manifested myself, I can interact with it and the people in it on equal footing to you." She smirked. "You'd better hurry. I'm interested to hear your explanation as well, Inmate."

Scratch everything he had thought about Rolo being an unwelcome distraction. A spy he might be, but he was nothing compared to Tsu's antics, which were already testing the limits of his patience.

What had he gotten himself into?

 **A/N:**

 **Veterans of Persona 5 will recognize what Lelouch's nightmare at the start of the chapter is a reference to.**

 **Originally, I planned for the writing the completion of Kallen's Confidant slightly later in the story, but the scene seemed to flow for me, and there's no reason why Lelouch wouldn't be able to do Ranks 9 and 10 consecutively, since he isn't bound by game rules (or a cat demanding that he go to bed). However, I always intended for her Confidant to be maxed around or a bit before the Black King, and in canon she fell for her masked leader Zero fairly and became his most loyal follower early on, though she likely didn't act further on it at the time. Later, near the end of R2, she does kiss Lelouch in canon, and when she does, she is the one to initiate it. While she is still Lelouch's suboordinate in this story, in a sense they are on much more equal terms than in canon, as they are both Persona users, and knowing Lelouch's identity from near the start of the story helped break down barriers that would have otherwise formed between them.**

 **Guren Jigoku, Kallen's ultimate Persona, is one of the Eight Cold Hells in Buddhism, which has been personified here into a Persona with the form of Nightmare Frame. Generally, Guren Jigoku looks like Guren Seiten Eight Elements, Kallen's canonical final mech in the original series, but more demonic and "alive". Sinners are flayed by freezing, scouring winds in Guren Jigoku, leaving their bloody bodies crimson, like the Crimson Lotus (Guren). It thus a bit ironic that Kallen should have an ice weakness still, but searing radiation could produce a similarly gruesome effect, and nuclear skills in P5 do bonus technical damage against frozen, burned, or shocked targets. Moreover, all ultimate Personas in P5 are either underworld deities or gods/demons that rebelled against the powers of their respective mythologies (or both), and having one that made a nod to Kallen's canon mech (the Guren) was too good to pass up.**

 **Guren Jigoku's elemental attributes are upgraded from Suzkua Gozen as follows: Resist Nuke becomes Null Nuke, and Guren Jigoku gains resistance to Curse. Additionally, Guren Jigoku learns Evade Ice; it's still weak to ice, but it will be much harder to actually strike that weakness now.**

 **As for the strongest Persona of the Chariot Arcana, this is originally Chi You in P5. I changed it to Haraedo-no-Okami because a Shinto goddess seemed more fitting for the conclusion of Kallen's Confidant than a Chinese deity, and as a nod to P4 Golden, where** **Haraedo-no-Okami is an evolved form of Suzuka Gozen (though not suiting the rebellion theme for Kallen's own ultimate Persona). That being said, Chi You still is a Persona that Lelouch can potentially fuse in this story - just the second strongest Chariot Persona instead.**

 **As for Tsu, the twist of her appearing in Lelouch's room about halfway through her Confidant was planned from the start, and while her previous requests followed the canonical P5 fusion requests from Justine and Caroline, the second half of her Confidant will now diverge significantly from them.**

 **Lastly, the chapter title itself. "Swear to My Bones" is the name of the theme that plays in Persona 5 when one of Joker's allies obtains their ultimate Persona.**


	29. The Silent Voice

"That went just about as well as expected," Lelouch sighed. Of course Sayoko hadn't believed a word he had said. Oh, she had smiled and nodded, and then cheerfully promised that she wouldn't tell anyone about his new 'mistress' out of respect for his privacy, and that as a growing young man it was natural to engage in sexual experimentation, even fetishistic practices…

No doubt Sayoko had heard Tsu call him "Inmate" and assumed she was some sort of dominatrix…

At least Sayoko could be trusted not to talk. With any luck, Tsu would content herself to his room for now, and wouldn't wander out where Nunnally would see her. He didn't want to explain to his sister why a girl was calling him "Inmate". Or worse, she might venture out into Ashford Academy proper… the last thing he needed was more rumors swirling around….

There was already plenty of new gossip for him to deal with, most of it focused around him and Kallen. It escaped the notice of few students when Kallen was waiting to greet him outside the Clubhouse, a warm smile on her face, shining even through the mask of a sickly girl as they walked to their classes together,

"Oh my god, I knew it…" gasped Shirley, putting her hands to her mouth. "I didn't want to believe it, but you really are dating Kallen, Lulu!"

His classmate and fellow Student Council member broke down into tears and ran from the room, covering her face in her hands.

"Shirley, wait!" he called out, but to no avail.

Why did dealing with girls have to be so hard?

xXx

"I heard you made Shirley cry," Milly said, the two of them alone in the Student Council Room. She shook her head. "She was weeping in the bathrooms for a good half an hour before going back to her room."

"What was I supposed to do?" Lelouch asked. "Isn't she overreacting?"

"You had to know that showing up with Kallen like that was going to upset her," Milly replied. "Not that I'm saying you can't pursue a relationship with whichever girl or girls that you like. You're at perfect freedom to do as you wish. But Shirley's had a crush on you since nearly the start of high school, in case you hadn't noticed. It's like a slap in the face to her, saying you don't care about her feelings."

"That's not true!"

"That's how Shirley clearly saw things."

"I can't get Shirley involved… and Kallen… she…"

"Yes?" Milly asked, her mouth spreading into a Cheshire cat grin.

Lelouch caught himself. The last thing he needed to be doing right now was giving Milly more blackmail material on him.

"Nice try, Madam President."

"Dang!" Milly pouted. "Just when I thought I had something juicy! But something _did_ happen between you two, didn't it? Why, just days ago she was telling your sister that you two weren't dating, and now she's all lovey-dovey with you here at Ashford." She leaned forward. "Something hot and streamy, right?"

Whether it was genuine intuition, or Milly throwing whatever salacious ideas she had at him and seeing what stuck, much as a cold reader did to create the illusion of knowing more than they did, his response wouldn't change.

"Do you honestly think I'm falling for that, Madam President?"

"I suppose not," Milly sighed. "Well, no matter what exactly transpired between you and Kallen, I'm happy for you at least, even if Shirley is taking the news poorly. To revel in and suffer in the throes of young love…. I wish I had that freedom…"

"Still haven't managed to dump that Earl yet?"

"I'm working on it. He has to have a weakness of some kind. He likes pudding," she said, her eyes lighting up for a moment. "I could make a special pudding just for him…. Nothing too bad, but maybe just enough to…"

Lelouch pictured the hapless Earl hurling into a toilet from whatever purposefully noxious ingredients Milly might have put in that 'special pudding'.

"That's one way to call off an engagement," he said.

"No… that won't work," Milly frowned. "I can't get myself arrested for poisoning an Earl. The sad thing is, he really is the least objectionable suitor I've had so far…."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow.

"His name's Lloyd Asplund… do you know why he wants to marry me?"

"Your charming personality?"

"Is this how you wooed Kallen, Lelouch? I wish. He heads Britannian's Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps. He designs Knightmare Frames and new weapons for them. He wants the original Ganymede prototype that my grandfather's company produced."

"The Ganymede is a third generation frame. The Britannian army is using fifth generation Sutherlands now," Lelouch replied, "and their Gloucesters are pushing toward the sixth generation, though it's really just an upgraded Sutherland for commanders and their personal units, specialized to fight other Knightmare Frames."

"You've kept up to date on Knightmare Frame technology, haven't you?"

"Know thy enemy," he told her.

"It is of course as you say. The Ganymede is a third generation frame. However, Earl Asplund seems to be interested in it because of certain design elements that were abandoned in the fourth and fifth generations in the interest of mass-producing frames that even average devicers could pilot. The Ganymede is a more flexible, agile frame, and its output can be more finely tuned, but only a superbly skilled pilot like your mother could fully make use of its capabilities."

"He wants to make a high-performance Knightmare Frame then," Lelouch scowled. "A true sixth generation frame."

"I think it may go beyond that actually," Milly whispered. "With the advancements that have been in harnessing sakuradite, not only is a sixth generation overdue, but my new fiancé seems brilliant and driven enough that I think he might leapfrog to the equivalent of a seventh generation frame. Whatever he builds might be so powerful compared to the frames that have come before it that calling it a mere sixth generation frame would be an insult to it."

A seventh generation Knightmare Frame? If Britannia got their hands on a weapon like that…

"When do you think he will complete his project?"

"A year? A few months? Honestly, I have no idea," Milly shrugged apologetically. "For all I know, he could already be on the verge of completing a seventh generation frame and he wants the Ganymede because he's thinking about how to incorporate its features into an eighth generation frame."

An eighth generation frame?

"Milly, you have to keep the Ganymede out of his hands at any costs! Even if it only delays him from creating a seventh or eighth generation frame for a few months, that's time any nation wishing to rise up again Britannia desperately needs! We can change his heart-"

"We have to focus on the Black King first, Lelouch," she reminded him. "If your true identity is discovered by the Empire, it's all over. Even if we did change Earl Asplund's heart, some other scientist would likely take over the project eventually, unless he were to destroy his data and prototypes as well." A sudden look of inspiration crossed her face. "Besides, it may be better not to change his heart for now."

"What do you mean? I thought you wanted out of this engagement."

"I do," Milly replied, "but…. You remember how Leila was able to pose as Clovis' girlfriend to gain information that was essential to infiltrating his Palace?"

"Are you saying…" Lelouch began.

"If we change Earl Asplund's heart now, he'll end the engagement right away. But then we'll have no idea if another scientist takes over his project or not, or how close it is to completion. If I'm still his fiancee, you can keep tabs on Britannian weapons development through me, Lelouch. I'm sure he's not just going to go spilling every detail of his work, but he may let things slip from time to time, and depending on his mood, I'll be able to gauge if the project is going well or not. And the Earl and I may be engaged, but no date has formally been set for our wedding yet. I'll do whatever I can to delay that, and any time he spends with me is time he can't spend working on his Knightmare Frames. It never hurts to have contacts in high places either… Even if it were to come to the worst and I was to become his wife, he doesn't seem to be the type to be interested in more than the bare minimum of what's expected in a marriage, if even that. I'd have more freedom with him than I would with almost any other noble husband, since he'd be too busy with his work to care what I did."

"That's brilliant, Milly," he said after a moment. "I could hardly plan it better myself." He meant that sincerely, impressed by the sacrifice she was willing to make for the Black Knights. "But you needn't worry about being trapped in a loveless marriage. We in the Black Knights will always be there for you if and when you need your fiancé's heart changed."

"Thanks, Lelouch," she replied.

Fortune resonated within Lelouch, and he felt a bit closer to Milly than he had been before.

xXx

Lelouch froze as he entered his dining room in the Clubhouse. Nunnally was seated at the table, folding origami cranes with a small, green-haired girl, dressed in blue and who appeared to be several years younger than her.

Shi had ventured out of the Velvet Room too!

"Big brother, is that you?" Nunnally asked.

"Yes," he replied uneasily. "Nunnally, who is that with-"

"Mr. Inmate!" Shi squeaked, her golden eyes going wide like a deer in the headlights.

Why did she have to blurt that out? Now he was going to have to-

"Why are you calling my big brother an inmate?" Nunnally asked, frowning.

"Miss - " Shi started, but then stopped herself and began again. "Miss Nunnally… He is a prisoner of fate, like you… and all other humans," she added after a moment.

Lelouch wanted to do a facepalm. Shi clearly had no idea about how to pass herself off as a human.

"What is she doing here?" Lelouch asked Nunnally.

"I met her recently, and she asked if she could come over and play with me," Nunnally replied. "Her name's Shi."

Lelouch frowned. Being blind, Nunnally couldn't see just how strange Shi really was. For all he knew, Shi could have opened a door from the Velvet Room to arrange a 'chance' meeting with his little sister so that she would have a pretext to spend time in the Clubhouse, with Nunnally being none the wiser. He had sorely underestimated the younger of the Velvet Room's green-haired wardens. If anything, he would have expected Tsu to be the one to pull a devious stunt like this, but never Shi, who had always seemed so innocent in comparison. No… maybe Tsu was still behind this, and had simply put her little sister up to it to mess with him. Yes… that sounded like something Tsu would do.

"Miss Nunnally says that if you fold one thousand of these paper cranes, your wish will come true," Shi spoke up. "Is that right, Mr. - "

"Call me Lelouch," he said firmly. It was going to be too weird if Shi kept calling him "Mr. Inmate" in Nunnally's presence, and while She's fear of him had lessened somewhat since they had first met, it didn't take much to intimidate the small girl. Tsu would of course find some way to punish him for it if she were to find out, but he would deal with those consequences when they came. Besides, if Shi could call his little sister "Miss Nunnally," then she could use his name as well.

"I'm- I'm sorry…" Shi stammered. "As you will, Mr.-" she let out a small gasp. "Mr. Lelouch."

That still sounded a bit strange, but "Mr. Lelouch" was clearly an improvement over "Mr. Inmate." He would take what he could get.

"Yes, your wish will come true," he told her gently, "if you believe in it enough." While he had little doubt that Shi was far more powerful than himself, and he had no idea how old Shi really was, or if such a concept as age could even meaningly apply to one who had hitherto spent most of their time living between dreams and reality, mind and matter, she was still childlike in her outlook, and to say otherwise would be needlessly cruel, to say nothing of making Nunnally a liar.

Shi's eyes lit up. "So it is like Cognition. How one thinks can reshape this world as well…" Her small voice was filled with wonder.

'This world?' Lelouch thought in annoyance. If Shi kept being careless like that, soon she would be talking about the details of the Metaverse in front of Nunnally…

"What do you wish for, Shi?" Nunnally asked, seemingly oblivious to her brother's anxiety.

"I wish that my big sister Tsu and Mr. Lelouch would get along better… and that I could see more of the world outside of that blue room…"

Shi was talking about the Velvet Room?! Was she trying to give him a heart attack?

"Huh? Lelouch?" Nunnally asked in confusion. "You know…?"

"She comes over from time to time," Lelouch said hurriedly. "It's nothing, Nunnally."

"Is Miss Tsu your girlfriend?"

"No, you've got it all wrong… actually I…"

"You shouldn't be two-timing, brother," Nunnally said with a frown. "I heard you're going out with Kallen, and now…"

"I didn't mean it like that," Shi said uncomfortably, unexpectedly coming to his aid. "I just wish they wouldn't fight so much."

"I'm sorry brother, for jumping to conclusions like that," Nunnally said, her head down.

"It's okay, Nunnally. Let's just focus on folding cranes together."

The rest of the evening passed quietly without serious incident, and with disaster averted, Lelouch was even able to relax a little bit. Seeing Shi so carefree as she worked excitedly on folding cranes with her new friend was in some small way heartwarming, even if he wished that she hadn't revealed herself to Nunnally.

By the end of the night, Death and the Star felt a little stronger within him.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 13**

xXx

Three days had already passed since their first foray into the Black King's Palace… Lelouch felt himself growing restless. They now had less than two weeks until the deadline for the Black King's blackmail demands. He of course had no intention of paying, and in fact he could not without Euphemia, as he didn't have a million pounds, but that was a moot point, since he planned to change the Black King's heart before then. Still, the Black King's Palace was significantly larger than those that had come before it, and he wasn't naive enough to think that he would be able to just ride the elevator up to the casino level again either. They would need to secure a new infiltration route too… perhaps there was a delivery entrance they could sneak through… or maybe…

He spent a grueling day training with Sayoko. He didn't like the exertion, but she didn't give him time to dwell on his problems.

Of course, she had to see fit to dispense some wisdom to him as well.

"I've noticed that as you've strengthened your body, you have also been going out more than before, and you have enjoyed the company of a number of young women, Master Lelouch."

"What's that supposed to mean, Sayoko?"

"As natural as it is for a healthy young man to have an interest in the opposite sex, or for a prince to have his own harem, I must advise you that as you grow closer to these women, you may find that the relationship can become intimate faster than you might expect. Take care, Master Lelouch, lest you leave a string of broken hearts in your wake. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. When the moment is right, what you say can have lasting consequences."

He could have used that advice before Kallen poured her heart out to him and Shirley ran away in tears. Shirley seemed to have gotten over the worst of it, but there was now an awkwardness between them, and she carried a certain melancholy with her rather than her usual bright spirits.

But a harem? He wasn't going to become his father!

Was he?

xXx

It had been a while since he had met with Leila, and perhaps a good chess match would help him clear his head from the tangle of spies, romance, and otherworldly sisters that his life had become as of late.

Leila arrived at Ashford Academy at night, meeting him in the chapel as they had before. She had her hair in her usual style as opposed to the twintails she had worn it in for their last match, as the paparazzi had largely lost interest in her in the wake of Prince Clovis' death, moving on to newer stories and scandals.

"I presume you wish to play as Black?" Leila asked.

He nodded.

"Then I shall oblige," Leila said, taking the White pieces for herself.

Leila used a different opening strategy this time, but she still seemed hesitant to sacrifice her pieces. Chess was as much a game of understanding how your opponent thought as strategy. Pushing forward, he could expect Leila to retreat and protect her pieces…

Leila closed in. A feint! She lost some pieces in the exchange, but came out ahead, as she captured more valuable ones on his side, leaving her with control of the board. A white bishop advanced along a diagonal, putting his king in check. Lelouch furiously scanned the board, but any move he made at this point would easily be countered by Leila. It might take her a few turns to make it official, but it was as good as checkmate.

When was the last time that anyone but Schneizel had beaten him?

"You were distracted," Leila said quietly. "You never would have fallen for that trap in our last match. You also underutilized your queen, keeping it well out of harm's way when it could have strengthened your position on the board."

"I didn't expect you to be so ruthless," he murmured, "after what you said about if I would sacrifice the Black Knights like I did my pieces in the last match."

"And you have a more sentimental side than you care to admit at times," Leila riposted.

"So it seems…" he agreed wryly. The thought of sacrificing Kallen, his Queen, was unacceptable to him, but in turn that had clouded his judgment and affected his play.

"You actions speak for themselves," Leila said. "You will not throw those close to you away carelessly, and I am heartened to know that. But perhaps you're too protective of them at times, to the point that you stifle their potential." She paused. "Do you believe in fortune-telling, Lelouch?"

"No. We make our own destinies."

"Humor me." She produced a deck of cards. "I couldn't help but notice that our Personas correspond to the Major Arcana of the Tarot." She set the cards on the table before them.

"This is foolish," he said impatiently.

"Does The Fool not guide you, Lelouch?" She leaned closer, her amethyst eyes twinkling in the moonlight as they met his. "Is that not why you call yourself Zero? You move forward into the unknown, attempting that which others think impossible, and in doing so you succeed where no one else could, whether by luck or skill, bringing new perspectives to the world."

"Perceptive as always, I see."

"My own Persona draws upon the High Priestess," Leila said, closing her eyes. "Whether or not the cards can actually tell the future is not important. What matters is their symbolism, and how one reflects upon that in their own life. The meaning of a reading will vary from individual to individual, but if you open yourself to it, you will find that the silent voice within your heart will whisper the most profound wisdom. If I close my eyes like this, I can hear my other self speaking to me even now.""

Leila shuffled the cards. "Shall we, Lelouch? Shall we peer into your future together?"

"Very well." What did he stand to lose from it?

Leila drew the first card. It showed a man and a woman, both naked, with the Tree of Knowledge in the background behind the woman, a volcano between them, and an angel above them. "The Lovers, in the reversed position. And the future beyond that is…" Leila drew the next card, and set it down. It showed a lightning-struck tower, with two people desperately leaping from the ruins. "The Tower, in the upright position," she announced. "Tell me, Lelouch… what does this reading mean to you?"

He stared at the cards. The reversed Lovers reminded him of how he had upset Shirley and how he felt disoriented by how quickly his relationship with Kallen had developed, catching him unawares, but he couldn't just say that out loud in front of Leila. If anything, her presence was making that reading even more confusing to him. And The Tower… most obviously it made him think of the Black King's Palace, a distorted version of the still under construction Babel Tower, but he had a feeling that he wasn't supposed to read it so literally. In any case, its presence was an ill omen, and he did have a sense of dread on the horizon…

Leila frowned, seeming disappointed at his silence. "There's a certain disharmony in your life right now, isn't there, Lelouch?" she said, reaching out to the Reversed Lovers. She moved her fingers to the Upright Tower. "Most people think The Tower is simply a harbinger of disaster… but that's far from its full meaning. It foretells great upheaval, yes, but it also brings one new revelations, leading to a new awakening."

Leila was cold reading him, he was certain of it. It was vague enough that anyone could find some truth in it, and his reticence was all she needed to infer discomfort on his part.

Still, she was very good at it. Not only did Leila have that mysterious, bewitching air that one might expect of a fortune-teller down perfectly, with those beguiling eyes that looked innocent at a glance yet saw so much more, but those two cards cut eerily close to his current state of mind. Someone more credulous than himself might believe Leila was actually reading the future. For a moment, he had almost seriously considered the possibility himself… She did have legitimate psychic powers from her Persona in the Metaverse, so why not here? But then he reminded himself that using a Persona in that capacity in the real world was impossible…

"You know, Leila, I should invite you to the Culture Festival in the fall. I think the students here would really enjoy your readings. I didn't expect you to have such a talent."

"Why thank you, Lelouch," she beamed. "I would love to."

She stood up to leave. "I'll see you and the others in the usual place in a few days. Just give me a call whenever you're ready for the infiltration."

The Priestess departed, and Lelouch felt that he knew her a bit better now.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 12**

xXx

This would be the last day of waiting, Lelouch told himself. Caution might dictate waiting an additional day before infiltrating the Palace again, but he was getting too antsy to delay further with the threat of being revealing looming over his and Nunnally's heads. Besides, he had already seen that the Black King had no sense of honor. While the Black King would likely keep his word this time so as to let Euphemia and himself squirm for as long as possible, thinking that it would provide him with the maximum amount of satisfaction when they caved just before his deadline, that wasn't a risk that Lelouch wanted to take.

Lelouch headed over to the bar where Rivalz worked, restocking on supplies of coffee in preparation for the Black Knight's next trip into the Metaverse. Of course, Rivalz was eager to know details about how he had hooked up with a girl like Kallen, heartily congratulating him and noting that as a noble, she had to be loaded, but Lelouch tried to turn the conversation away from that.

"So how are you doing these days?" he asked his friend.

"Same as usual, Lelouch. If only Madam President would notice me… that would cheer me up."

Lelouch chose not to tell Rivalz that Milly had been engaged to an Earl. She hadn't shared that outside of the Black Knights, and that bit of news would only throw Rivalz into despair.

He sighed. "Mom and Dad are fighting again. You'd think that separating would put an end to that, with one of them here in Area 11 and the other back in California… but you'd be wrong, buddy. You know that Cardemonde is actually my mother's maiden name, right? I use it these days because I'm ashamed of that jerk who's my father."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Don't worry about it, buddy. You just have some fun with Kallen. I'm sure you've got some great dates planned with her."

xXx

"It's been a while, Lelouch," Suzaku said, stopping by to visit him and Nunnally that evening. Thankfully, Shi and Tsu were nowhere to be seen. He didn't want to have to explain them to yet another person. "You haven't been getting into any trouble, have you?"

"Why do you always say that like you think I have been? You used to be the one who did whatever he wanted back in the days at the Shrine."

"I've changed, Lelouch." Suzaku laughed light-heartedly. "But then again, so have you. I didn't think you'd be one to find a girlfriend before me."

Lelouch felt himself growing red. Why did everyone have to keep going on about him and Kallen?

"Don't worry, Lelouch," Suzaku said disarmingly. "This sort of thing is perfectly natural."

"What about you then?" Lelouch said, shifting the focus away from himself.

"I met a girl a while back. She was quite charming, and we spent the day together, but nothing's come of it since then. There are certain relationships that just can't work, and it would be arrogant of me to pursue it further." He sighed. "She probably doesn't even remember me now…. But I still can't help but wonder what she's been up to these days. Other than that, things have been pretty quiet over in Engineering. Though we keep hearing how frustrated the Viceroy is that no one's been able to find the Black Knights."

"She'd be better served cracking down on the mobsters who plague the Settlement and prey upon the weak, Britannian and Japanese alike. Yet enforcement is still half-hearted at best. Honestly, those Black Knights have done a better job of putting a dent in Refrain operations than the Viceroy has, if the news is to be believed." That narrative from Diethard had to be particularly infuriating to the Viceroy.

"If they hadn't targeted Prince Clovis, perhaps they could have worked with the police," Suzaku replied stubbornly. "Don't you see how their methods are self-defeating in the end?"

"I'll reserve judgment on that for that now, Suzaku. But I think their results have produced more good than you give them credit for."

"You never change, Lelouch. It's always about the results for you."

"Worrying about anything else is just self-righteousness."

"The Black Knights are just trying to tear everything down. They don't offer any real solutions! They just brainwash people into confessing all of their crimes, but then what? What's their endgame? There has to be a better way. This society can be rehabilitated, and that change has to come from within the system if it is to last. Otherwise, you'd just get chaos and many more people are going to die needlessly."

"Your commitment to your principles is admirable, Suzaku, but this world doesn't run on idealism. You need to realize that. All I can say is that the Black Knights clearly aren't afraid to get their hands dirty to do what needs to be done."

Suzaku sighed again. "Just take care of yourself and Nunnally, Lelouch."

"Of course. The last thing I want is to make my sister cry."

How ironic. Suzaku detested everything that the Black Knights stood for. But as Justice resonated within Lelouch, Suzaku had just helped them in his own small way.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 11**

 **A/N:**

 **Back to dungeon-crawling / action next chapter, where we'll take a closer look at the Resort of Gluttony and how it differs from P5's canonical Palaces. We've only scratched the surface of it so far.**

 **The name of the chapter, and one of Leila's lines is an excerpt from a quote of the final boss of Persona 3, elaborating upon the themes of the Major Arcana.**


	30. The Mall of Consumption

The Black Knights assembled outside the Resort of Gluttony, accompanied by their newest member, Noire, better known to the public as Euphemia, Third Princess of Britannia and Sub-Viceroy of Area 11.

"I'm sorry for how I treated you earlier," Kallen, in her Queen alter ego, told Euphemia. "I thought you were just going to get in our way, and that you were just a useless Britannian puppet princess who couldn't stand on her own, and had no business being in the Metaverse. And you didn't at the time, defenseless as you were. But then you awakened to your Persona. You have a spirit of rebellion within you just like any of us. I'll try to judge you according to your merits from this time forward, Prin- Noire…." she corrected herself.

"It's okay…" Euphemia reassured her. "I really was a 'puppet princess' back then, just a mere figurehead in the colonial administration, though I tried to find a way to be more than that… which only got all of you in this mess. But now… I can really change things for the better in Japan, without being held back by bureaucrats or overruled by my sister. And I can protect those I care for…"

"By the way, Noire, did you hear the news?" Milly asked, sauntering up to the princess and getting far closer to her than protocol would normally dictate. "Just a few days after the last infiltration, and Queen here shacked up with your brother."

"Why are you bringing that up now?" Kallen demanded in annoyance.

"Wh-what?" Euphemia became visibly flustered. "But you said that you-" she started, pointing at Kallen, her hand trembling slightly. Her gaze turned to her brother. "Lel- Zero! Is this true?"

"Ooh," Milly said, "that's an even more interesting reaction than the one I was expecting. Is this what they call the forbidden love between a sister and her brother?"

"I-" Euphemia began, but her words quickly became incoherent as she flushed even redder.

Lelouch recalled that back when they were all in Pendragon, Euphy and Nunnally had debated amongst themselves which one of them was going to marry him. But they had been children back then. It was a strong familial love, no more than that. Both Euphy and Nunnally had been too young to understand what marriage really meant at the time, or so he told himself.

'She was your first love, you know,' a small part of himself whispered. "And not in the same way that you love Nunnally."

Lelouch forced that thought from his head. He had to stay focused.

"What happened between Queen and myself is a private matter," Lelouch said firmly. "This isn't the time for distractions, Diamond. We need to start by finding a new infiltration route. A resort as large as this one always has multiple entrances, so we should be able to find one before long."

"Aw… just when it was getting fun." Milly pouted. "But you don't deny it."

"Enough."

xXx

The Black Knights headed out, doing reconnaissance around the Resort and gathering information to determine the most viable infiltration route. Eventually, their search led them into the shantytown surrounding the resort.

If Shinjuku had seemed dilapidated and oppressed, then the shantytown was an entirely new level of misery for its inhabitants. As they progressed further into it, they saw that those of its inhabitants that were up and about were as a rule anemic, and a few of them seemed more shambling, withered husks than people.

"He's sucked them dry…" Euphemia murmured, obviously trying to hold back her horror and revulsion.

"He came off as a shark up in the casino," Arthur added, "But it seems that he's more like a vampire to these people."

Fortunately, the Cognitions inhabiting the shantytown seemed to pay the Black Knights no mind as the six thieves moved among them, and only shuffled zombie-like to and fro, too beaten down to even acknowledge the strangers in their midst.

Many more Cognitions didn't move at all… slumped over along the sides of the streets, bloated, putrefying half-corpses with rictus grins, drool running down from their mouths. The only signs that they were alive at all were when they would suddenly start joyously laughing to themselves, or talking to no one in particular, their dead eyes glazed over yet somehow beatific in their expressions.

"I passed the entrance exams, and got into the University!"

"She said yes! I'm so happy!"

"The boss gave me a big raise!"

"I've been thinking about our next vacation…"

"I'm going to shop until I drop!"

"Refrain…" Kallen said in disgust.

"There has to be something we can do to help these people," Euphemia whispered.

"It's no use," Lelouch told her. "These are Cognitions. They're a product of the Black King's mind as much as this Palace is. They'll disappear when we steal his Treasure. The only salvation they'll ever have is annihilation."

"That's horrible…"

"They won't suffer any longer," Leila told Euphemia gently. "To release them is an act of mercy."

"Indeed," Lelouch nodded solemnly.

"Why are we here, Zero?" Milly asked. "We're getting further away from the Palace."

"I'm glad you asked, Diamond. Refrain remains an illegal substance under Britannian law. The Black King can't distribute it in the open, especially with Viceroy Cornelia's efforts to crack down on the trade, however short they may fall. He needs to smuggle it out to his preferred customers… right here in this shantytown. We're looking for a building that could serve as a warehouse of some sort. There will almost certainly be a tunnel connecting it to the Palace, which will give us a route in. It will be the last place the Black King will expect us to enter through." He turned to Leila. "Bishop, can you detect anything matching that description?"

Leila removed her mask, summoning Jeanne d'Arc. "Yes. We're only a block or two away from it," she replied after a few moments of concentration.

"Excellent."

The warehouse was one of the few structures in the shantytown that appeared to be properly constructed and not on the verge of collapse. There was little doubt that they had found the right place.

"There will likely be a handful of guards," Lelouch cautioned them as they approached. "However, they're too far away from the main building of the Palace to raise the alarm effectively, provided that we can take them out quickly enough."

The Black Knights nodded, and followed him as he entered the warehouse. Crates, no doubt filled with vials of Refrain, lined the walls.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" A suited thug called out.

"This is property of the Black King!" growled another.

"Hey… they aren't Elevens… what are they doing here anyway?" asked a third.

"You must be those kids who thought they could steal the Black King's treasure!" the first snarled.

"You'll belong to the Black King soon enough! Think of the bonus he'll give us for catching these naughty girls!"

"Remember, the Black King wants them to be taken alive... except the boy and the mangy cat. Get them!" The third ordered.

The suited Shadows burst to reveal their true forms, with humanoid bodies but crow-like wings, their faces hidden under black hoods, staves with elaborate spear-like tips in their hands.

"Karasu Tengu..." Kallen murmured. "They haunt humans and whisper evil words to corrupt them."

"The enemy is aerial!" Lelouch shouted. "They'll be able to retreat out of meele range! Use ranged attacks and magic!"

"I can reach them, no problem!" Kallen shouted back. She ripped off her mask. "Guren Jigoku!"

Kallen's reborn Persona appeared and shot into the air on it demonic wings, a streak of red and gold followed by a trail of blue energy moving at blinding speeds. Its claw seized one of the Karasu Tegu, and unleashed nuclear hellfire upon it.

The Karasu Tengu gave out an agonized screech, flailing as Guren Jigoku's unrelenting fury disintegrated it one layer at a time, feathers, skin, and flayed flesh that was bloody crimson for an instant before being scorched and boiled away. The Shadow gave one last scream and exploded into black wisps.

"That's incredible, Queen!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Whoa..." Milly murmured. "Does she have more than one Persona now, like Zero does?"

"No..." Leila said. "I thought something seemed different about her. Queen's Persona has evolved into a more powerful form."

"No fair!" Milly pouted. "When I can I evolve my Persona too? Does this have something to do with your tryst with Queen, Zero?"

"Stay focused!" he barked back. "There are still two more enemies!"

The remaining two Karasu Tengu wasted no time in proving the truth of his words, once they had recovered from the shock of how quickly Guren Jigoku had dispatched their companion. One blasted Milly with a powerful gust of wind, knocking her to the ground. The other raised a hand, and cards, glowing with white light, appeared out of nowhere and began to close in around the Black Knights.

"Everyone, move!" Leila shouted with sudden urgency.

They heeded her words, diving to the ground and to the side. A moment later there was a series of brilliant flashs as blessed energy erupted where the Black Knights had been. Thanks to Leila's timely warning, everyone emerged unscathed...

Except for Milly.

Milly couldn't get out of the way, already stunned by the previous attack.

"Oh..." she said with a sudden sigh. "I..." Milly slumped to the ground, her eyes closed peacefully. She wasn't moving, and with a sudden dread, Lelouch knew that she wasn't sleeping either.

He didn't understand how... Milly looked a bit battered from the wind spell she had been hit by, but she should have been able to keep fighting after a moment. Outwardly, it didn't seem that the light had caused any further damage to her.

But Milly was dead. Whatever that light was, it had killed her instantly.

"An exorcism spell..." he heard Leila gasping, though the words barely processed in his head. "It removed her spirit…"

"Hey!" the other Shadow said. "The boss said not to kill the girls! What are you thinking?"

"We're going to get killed ourselves if we fool around! They gave us no choice!" the Shadow that had just murdered Milly shot back.

Rage boiled within him…Milly could be annoying at times, but she made life at Ashford Academy fun, even if he didn't always admit it. She was almost like a mischievous big sister to him now. To think that she was gone...

"Wait!" Euphy's voice cut through his swirling cauldron of emotions. "It may not be too late! I can bring her back!"

"Euphy, she's dead!" Lelouch shouted back, forgetting to use her codename in his distress. "There's nothing you can do for her now!" Furiously, he summoned Archangel, fused earlier that day and empowered by his bond with Suzaku, which seized Milly's killer. Normally, Archangel would have used a sword. But nothing short of ripping the offending Karasu Tengu limb from limb would satisfy him now.

Its end was bloody, vicious, and above all, sadistic, to the delight of Andras within him, which only had to sit back and enjoy the carnage.

But Euphemia ignored him, and pulled off her mask. "Eilonwy, I beseech you!" she called out.

"Recarm!" Euphemia cried out.

For an instant, Lelouch thought he saw a sparkling blue butterfly appear over Milly's prone form. It was only there for a moment, but then, incredibly, Milly stirred, her eyes fluttering open.

He wasn't imagining it, was he?

Euphemia had just performed a miracle by any definition of the term.

Guren Jigoku cut through the last Shadow while it too was dumbfounded, and with the enemy dispatched, the Black Knights quickly gathered at Milly's side.

"Milly, are you alright?" he said, kneeling by her, his voice choking and betraying his emotions. "You-"

"I saw a bright light..." Milly murmured, rubbing her head. "I suppose I died, for a moment. But then I heard a voice… it seemed to be coming from a butterfly… I couldn't be sure exactly what it was saying, but it felt like it wasn't my time yet, so I was able to return to my body." She looked around. "Which one of you gave me the breath of life? Or maybe..." she said, fixing her gaze on Lelouch, and putting on her usual mischievous smile, "a prince gave me the kiss of life?"

"This is no time to be joking around! You really did die, you know!" Lelouch scolded her, even as he felt an overwhelming sense of relief. She was still the same Milly he had always known, brought back to them. "You-" He fumbled, looking for the right words.

"I think he's trying to say that you nearly gave all of us a heart attack," Leila replied, worry still on her face. "Are you really alright? If you need to-"

"I'm fine!" Milly said defensively. "Or I will be..." she added with a nervous laugh, almost involuntarily. "Stop worrying so much about me! GUTS!"

"Bishop's right that you gave us all a scare!" Kallen said angrily. "But I think there's another point that we're all overlooking in our relief to have Diamond back. Noire can raise the dead!" Kallen said, turning toward and looking at the Third Princess in awe. "Forget everything I ever said about you being useless! I never could pull off a miracle like what you just did! I know I apologized earlier, but..." she hung her head. "The only way my Persona can protect others is by destroying everything that stands in the way. But you... My brother... do you think..."

Euphemia shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Queen. There are limits to my Persona's powers. If it had just happened, then maybe I could... But he's too long gone… Past a minute or two and…"

Kallen looked down. "Of course. It was a fool's hope…"

"You should be more careful," Leila said firmly to Milly. "While Noire's Persona has proven to have an invaluable ability, I am sure it is not one that we want to have to rely on. Our tactics should always prioritize survival. Each one of us is irreplaceable. Don't you agree, Zero?"

"I do." Technically, there were a few instances he could imagine where sacrificing an ally or himself might be justified, but only in the direst of circumstances, in which there were no other options available that would not result in further casualties. Not only had the Black Knights formed a circle of precious companions around him, but losing any of them would directly diminish his own powers. "If you see one of those Shadows, or one with an ability like it, kill it on sight."

"After all, we don't have nine lives," Arthur said.

I almost thought you would," Milly grinned devilishly. "With Cognition and everything..."

"Hey! I don't want to test it, okay!" Arthur reared.

Some things would never change.

xXx

The tunnel was long and dimly lit, patrolled by the occasional group of Shadows. Striking from the darkness, the Black Knights ambushed and eliminated them without raising the alarm. As for Milly, while she had been all smiles and joking upon her revival, she seemed more focused in battle, and for that Lelouch was grateful.

They emerged in what appeared to be the backroom of a store, filled with crates of medicine and shelves of pharmaceutical supplies…though undoubtedly, most of the crates actually contained Refrain. There didn't seem to be any guards around. Clearly, the Black King was not worried about people trying to sneak out through the tunnel.

"Is everyone ready?" Lelouch asked. "I'd prefer not to have anyone else dying on us today.

"Ready, Zero," the voices of the Black Knights chorused.

They filed into the store, which indeed had the form of pharmacy, and Kallen took out the clerk on duty, a Cognition, before it was aware of their presence.

"Was that really necessary?" Euphemia frowned. "He was only doing his job."

"It was a lookout for the Black King, and no doubt helped move those shipments of Refrain in the back," Lelouch replied. "You'd best save your sympathy for those who deserve it, Noire. Besides, as a Cognition, it will be back before long if the Black King desires it."

"This could be a good time to stock up on supplies", Milly murmured as she scanned the shelves. "There are so many different types of medicine here…." She read some of the labels. "Sikkenine, Recov-R… Nohar-M, Revivadrin…. "

"It's all so expensive…" Euphemia murmured. "Even simple stuff, like bandages and eye drops! How are we supposed to pay for this?"

"We're thieves, Noire," Kallen told her. "We'll take what we need."

"Historically, looting was considered a necessity for supplying an army on the move, alongside foraging," Leila added. "Although it remains as barbaric of a practice as it ever was, this time there are no innocents who will suffer if we liberate some of these supplies from the Black King."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Arthur chimed in. "When you're a stray trying to survive, you can't afford to be picky about who things used to belong to."

"Stock up on anything you think could prove useful," Lelouch instructed the other Black Knights. "But be quick about it. Someone will notice if we linger here for too long, and whatever you take has to be balanced against against the extra encumbrance that carrying it through the Palace will bring."

"Ooh, what's this?" Milly asked, checking behind the counter. "Looks like something valuable." Using a key left behind by the clerk, she unlocked a plexiglass box that contained a single vial of an unknown medicine. "Soma," she read as she picked it up. "Wonder drug and drink of the Gods, use soma to fully restore your body and soul, or simply to have a good time. Best used with friends. Dosage: one drop per person."

"I don't know…" Kallen said, eyeing the vial warily. "It sounds like how Refrain was sold to the Japanese people…"

"Soma was the name of a drug used for religious purposes in Vedic traditions, distilled from nectar extracted from a now unknown plant, purported to bestow the drinker with immortality," Leila spoke up. "It is also the namesake of a fictitious drug that featured prominently in a 1986 a.t.b. dystopian novel published in Europia, though copies of it are difficult to find here. In some ways the book's soma functioned similarly to Refrain, inducing euphoria in the user, though it lacked Refrain's debilitating physical side effects."

"What's your point?" Kallen asked testily.

"Imbibing this Soma is unlikely to harm us, provided that we do so judiciously."

"I'll take that," Lelouch said, deftly snatching the vial of Soma from Milly's hand.

"Hey!"

"Something like this is worth far more than its weight in gold. We need to save it until we really need it. As the rest of you have already agreed to follow my lead in battle, it follows that I should decide when we use it." He didn't want to think of the 'creative' uses Milly could find for a vial of Soma.

"Fine. But next time, it's finders, keepers."

Leaving the pharmacy, the Black Knights entered the main mall area that made up the lower levels of the Resort of Gluttony. Peering up a central shaft, ringed by escalators, they could see that the shopping center easily extended upward for at least twenty stories, and each floor seemed to be as large as an entire ordinary mall in of itself.

"Whoa…" Milly murmured. "You could come in here and never leave…"

The area was swarming with a sea of Cognitions, rushing heedlessly from store to store, heavy bags filled with purchases chained to their wrists. Occasionally, a shopper would collapse under the weight of a new purchase, unable to rise no matter how they struggled, and before long, a pair of the Black King's enforcers would appear.

"You've overdrawn your credit," an enforcer Shadow said pitilessly to a nearby shopper Cognition.

"No… I'm sorry… I'll pay the Black King back! I promise!"

"Oh, don't worry… we know how you can pay him back…."

"Please…. Don't!"

"Unhand that man!" Euphemia demanded, rushing over, and leveling her gun at the Shadows. The Black Knights followed her, though Lelouch wished she hadn't run off like that. They didn't have time to save every Cognition in the Palace, and as he had explained to her earlier, doing so was ultimately futile.

"Who do you think you are?" the enforcer Shadow demanded.

"Wait… I think they're those thieves!"

The enforcer's bodies twisted, dissolving into ichor before reconstituting themselves into combat forms, bulky, horned fiends with red skin, smiles with too many teeth, blue Japanese clothes, and a large scythe-like sword with a thick blade.

"Of course Oni would prey upon the weak," Kallen snarled. "Guren Jigoku!"

Guren Jigoku blasted the closest Oni at close range with radiation. The Oni howled in pain, but unlike the Karasu Tengu that had come before it, it was durable enough to survive the attack. Enraged, it began attacking wildly, and if any of its strikes had connected, they could have done significant damage, but they missed their marks.

"Mabufu!" Euphemia shouted out as Eilowny appeared. Her Persona's golden orb glowed brightly for a moment, and ice crystals appeared, striking both Oni and freezing the first in its tracks.

"Matador!" Lelouch summoned the skeletal bullfighter, who delivered a swift series of strikes, finishing off the already weakened Oni, but they didn't seem to hurt the second much.

"An Oni's skin is tough like iron!" Kallen called out. "You'd be better off using magic!"

"You heard Queen!"

Successive spells from Milly, Arthur, and Leila, followed by another blast of nuclear energy from Guren Jigoku, put an end to the fight.

"Are you okay?" Euphemia asked the Cognition, striking a weak link in the chain with her blade to free the shopper from the excess weight pulling it down.

At once, the Cognition moved to scoop up its fallen purchases.

"What are you doing?" Euphemia asked in confusion. "You can't carry all of that. That's why you got in trouble in the first place."

"I paid good money for these!" The Cognition said frantically. "I'm not about to leave them behind! Thanks for the help, Miss, but if I don't have all of the latest brand goods, people will think I'm poor, and I'll be the butt of all my neighbor's jokes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I was on the way to check out a sale on a new flatscreen TV!"

"But you're already deep in debt to the Black King! If you-"

The Cognition ignored her, rising to its feet and slowly melting back into the crowd as it shuffled forward, leaning backward as it tried to balance a mountain of bags in its arms.

"What did I tell you, Noire?" Lelouch gently chastised her.

"This isn't right…" she said, sounding as if she was about to cry.

"That's why we're here, isn't it?" He comforted her. "Your heart is in the right place, Noire, but there's no use in trying to reason with Cognitions."

xXx

The Black Knights made their way through the mall. Judging from the number of patrols, the Palace was still in a somewhat heightened state of security, but it was easy to lose the guards in the crowds, provided that they didn't allow themselves to be swept away in them. Besides the fearsome Karasu Tengu and the brutish but on the whole far less dangerous Oni, there were more twin-headed guard dogs like those they had encountered on the casino level, along with a variety of lesser shadows. Most insidious among the Shadows were those that pretended to be mannequins in shop windows, their black forms almost looking like glossy plastic at a glance, bursting through the glass and summoning more guards if the Black Knights were to pass by unaware.

There was every conceivable kind of shop in the mall, all of which had signs urging them to consume. Fashion boutiques, electronics retailers, book stores, furniture showrooms, supermarkets, arms dealers…

"Why am I not surprised?" Kallen asked, looking up at a KnightPolice frame that was marked as "For Sale".

"We know that the Black King has much of the police on his pay," Leila said quietly. "Through them, it appears that he has access to a sizable military surplus."

"I'm not the most skilled at fighting, but this could really clear out a room…" Euphemia murmured, testing the feel of a grenade launcher in her hands. "Just fire and…"

Lelouch blanched. There was just something wrong with the image of his half sister firing a grenade into a mass of Shadows.

"On second thought, it's pretty heavy…" Euphemia continued. "Where would we be able to find more ammunition for it anyway?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised, Noire," Kallen smirked. "I know some people who could get us some. I'll take that if you don't want it."

"Kallen already has more than enough firepower with her Persona," Leila interjected. "She hardly needs such a weapon. That said, we should bring it with us. It opens tactical options where small arms fire is insufficient, and helps make up for some of your weaknesses. I think it's a good fit for you."

"Alright," Euphemia said. "I'll try it."

No, it was definitely not a good fit, Lelouch wanted to say, but it seemed that ship had already sailed.

"It's great to have a chance to grab some better weapons," Milly said. "We've been using handguns all of this time… I think this will do nicely." She picked out a light machine gun for herself.

"That's good for suppressive fire," Kallen said, "but you'll waste a lot of bullets. If you want better accuracy, you'll use one of these." She took an assault rifle off the rack.

Black Knights finished their "shopping". Lelouch stole a pistol with more penetrative power than his old one, and nabbed a combat knife. Leila also took a pistol for herself, strapping it to her thigh, hidden under her dress, and in a less conventional choice, took a naginata for a melee weapon.

"The main weakness of Akido is its lack of reach," Leila explained. "The length of a naginata compensates for this. My Persona's spells are my greatest asset to the Black Knights rather than my physical prowess, so this should help keep me at a safe distance from the enemy."

"For someone whose image of rebellion is a Gypsy, you certainly seem to have an interest in Japanese martial arts," Kallen commented.

"I try to draw inspiration from a range of martial traditions," Leila replied, "and living here in Japan naturally gave rise to an interest in the culture that Britannia had suppressed."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Kallen said. "If anything, it gives me more respect for you. Though I wonder why there's a naginata in one of the Black King's shops…"

"If there's a market for it, he'll sell it," Leila shrugged.

"I'm jealous that you guys have got all of this cool new gear," Arthur whined. "But there's hardly anything here suitable for cat!"

xXx

The Black Knights continued to ascend through the shopping center. They were almost to its highest floors now, and the stores were increasingly focusing on luxury goods.

"How do you think I'd look in that, Zero?" Milly asked as they passed by the front of a designer lingerie store, where some mannequins, thankfully not Shadows in disguise, were modeling was doubtlessly an exorbitantly expensive lacy bra and panties set, even by the standards of the Palace. "I think I'd fill out those cups pretty well," she said, grasping and pushing up her own breasts as she did so, still too carefree for someone who had died and come back to life scarcely an hour before. Then again, Milly had always been one to believe in enjoying each moment of life to its fullest.

Lelouch tried to banish the mental image of Milly dressed only in lingerie as quickly as he could. If Incubus had still been residing within him, the Devil Persona would have had a field day. Though paradoxically, thinking about what Incubus would have made him imagine had much the same effect as if Incubus was still alive.

Lelouch silently cursed Incubus' memory.

"No, we are not stopping so you can steal some lingerie and try to seduce me with it later."

"That's right!" Kallen said quickly.

"Aww…. But I think you won't object to pilfering from that store," she said, pointing to another one ahead of them.

It was a jewelry store, stocked with a dazzling array of gems, the rival of any such store back in Pendragon.

"What sort of thieves would we be if we passed up the chance to have a jewelry store heist?" Milly asked. "Besides, think of all of the supplies we could buy back in the real world with the money we could get from it…"

Milly had a point. As much as an unexpected blessing as the mall and its goods had been, it would not last forever, as they had to destroy the Palace and soon. A successful theft of even a few pieces from the store before them would be more than enough to assure the funding of the Black Knights for the foreseeable future, without having to dip into assets set aside for other purposes.

"Very well," he told her. "But just don't forget why we're here."

"Stop worrying about me so much, Zero," Milly laughed. "Or else your girlfriend is going to get pretty jealous…"

There were of course some Shadows guarding the store, but they were dispatched easily. Locating and disabling the store's security system, so that their theft would not trigger a massive spike in the Palace's security took longer, but was accomplished soon enough.

Milly naturally was drawn to the biggest prize of all… a spectacular diamond necklace, fit for a queen.

"Wait, Diamond," Lelouch whispered. "Don't touch that necklace. Something's not right. This is too easy."

"What did I tell you, Lelouch?" she asked innocently. But to his relief, she complied.

"Just wait." He used the Third Eye, and the necklace seemed to glow.

"You're right…" Leila murmured. "That necklace has a malignant aura… it's possessed by a Shadow."

"It seems I've been found out," a voice said, apparently from the necklace. "How very cunning."

A pale blue, translucent figure with large golden eyes, its body tapering down toward the necklace, more like a ghost than anything else, rose and appraised them. "I once brought ruin to the Queen of France, but I'm not much of a fighter myself. So if you'll excuse me, thieves, I must make my exit."

"You're surrounded. You can't run anywhere," Kallen threatened.

"Don't be so sure," it told her.

"Don't let it get away!" Lelouch ordered. "It will raise the alarm if it does!"

The Shadow possessing the Queen's Necklace was surprisingly resilient to their attacks, shrugging off even Guren Jigoku's fury and only seeming slightly worse for wear from it.

'Is that the best you can do?" It asked, seeming bored. "I'm disappointed. After you came that close to stealing me…"

The Shadow began to scurry away, taking the Queen's Necklace with it, but then Euphemia got a lucky hit with her gun, knocking the Shadow to the ground.

"Seriously?" Kallen asked. 'Guns work on a spirit when almost nothing else does?"

"Impressive…" the Shadow said. "You have bested me after all…"

"You're coming with us," Lelouch told it.

"Indeed I shall. Henceforth, I shall be your Persona…"

The Queen's Necklace disappeared, absorbed into Lelouch's Mask.

"It just gave up like that," Milly said, too surprised to formulate any sort of double entendre.

xXx

"Of course the food court was going to be on the twentieth floor," Arthur said. "I've gotten hungry just climbing up here…"

The food court dwarfed anything that had come below, taking up almost the entire floor, lined with countless establishments, from fast foods joints to fancy restaurants and everything in between. Hordes of customers eagerly ate course after course, often not even bothering to finish the food on their plates, even the most sumptuously prepared meals, before shoving it into heaping piles of refuse, or throwing up on the floor to make room for more. Many were morbidly obese, their limbs seeming almost vestigial organs, and as incapable of movement as the Refrain addicts in the shantytown.

"Ugh… and I've already lost my appetite," Arthur grimaced.

"The oldest and most primal expression of the Deadly Sin of Gluttony…" Lelouch murmured.

"How can they just throw away so much food?" Euphemia asked. "That could feed…"

"Everyone starving in the ghettos, many times over," Kallen finished for her. "What else is new? This is how Britannia works, when all its pretensions are stripped away," she said bitterly.

"What's worse is that the Black King sees things this way," Milly said. "It wouldn't appear in his Palace like this otherwise. And he thinks this is okay! He really is twisted…"

"Everyone… there's a powerful Shadow ahead," Lelia announced after finishing a scan of the floor with Jeanne d' Arc. It seems to be guarding this area of the Palace. We'll have to beat it if we're to go any further."

Reaching the far end of the food court, they reached a dais, where corpulent diners, rendered comatose by the enormous quantities of food that they had consumed, where slowly lifted up on a system of pulleys, being offered as sacrifices to the man seated there.

The Black King's Shadow.

As each sacrifice was brought into place, the Black King's Shadow would unhinge his jaws to an impossible degree, which would have been cartoonish if not for the grisly spectacle that would ensue. The helpless prey was nearly devoured whole, disappearing as if into a black hole, but sometimes there was just enough that wouldn't fit in one gulp that there would be a sickening, bone-rending crunch.

"You're persistent, aren't you?" The Black King's Shadow asked, rising from his throne, pausing only to wipe the blood from his lips with a napkin. "I suppose I'll have to devour you next."

"You're not the Black King," Leila suddenly said. "Your aura is different from his."

"Hmmm…" the False Black King said. "It seems one of you girls has a brain behind their pretty face. Indeed, I am not the Black King. As much as the owner would like to personally attend this banquet, he's not so foolish to risk himself when it can be avoided. You might say that I'm his body double. He knew you return eventually, though I was almost afraid that you weren't coming. But now, at last, the main course can begin!"

The False Black King transformed, becoming a crowned pig-like creature with two arms like a man, but four legs on a yellow-scaled reptilian body with a green underbelly and a long tail.

"BUONO!" The Gluttonous Pig shrieked as a battle cry.

The Black Knights were eager to put their newly acquired firepower to use, guns blazing, but the Gluttonous Pig's scales were too thick, absorbing most of the energy of the bullets before they could cause it serious harm. A grenade to the face was somewhat more effective, and caused the Gluttonous Pig to howl, but Euphemia could only fire a very limited number of rounds before she would be would be forced to switch to smaller arms.

"Guns are ineffective!" Lelouch shouted. "Ready a defensive stance and be prepared to counterattack!"

"BUONO!" The Gluttonous Pig charged forward, swiping its claws and trying to take bites out of the Black Knights. They were ready for it, summoning their Personas and driving their blades into its sides. They were able to inflict some damage upon it, but once again the Gluttonous Pig's scales protected it from serious harm.

"Use magic!" Lelouch ordered.

Spells blasted the Gluttonous Pig on all sides. It shrieked as it was roasted by flames conjured by Medea, falling to its knees.

"BUONO! I'm not the one who's supposed to be cooked today!"

"Launch an all-out attack!"

The Black Knights descended upon the Gluttonous Pig, taking advantage of its momentary inability to defend itself. It eventually rose above the fray, but finally it had been bloodied, with wounds all over its body.

"It seems you won't be enough of a meal…. Fetch me a snack! BUONO!"

Another corpulent victim was raised into position and promptly devoured by the Gluttonous Pig. At once, its injuries vanished.

"BUONO! Now that I've eaten, I'll wash that morsel down with your blood!"

"No…" Euphemia whispered. "How do we beat this thing?"

"Don't worry, Noire," Lelouch said with a smirk. "I know just the thing. Everyone, stick to the current battle plan!"

The Gluttonous Pig this time leaped up into the air, trying to dive-bomb them and crush them beneath its mass, but the Black Knights were ready for him, darting out of the way before Milly and Lelouch seared it with fire.

"I hunger again! Ready the next sacrifice! BUONO!"

"Noire, give me one of your grenades," Lelouch said to Euphemia.

"What?"

"Just give it to me, quickly."

She complied, and handed a grenade over to Lelouch. Arming it, he rushed over to the sacrifice as it was being lifted to the Gluttonous Pig's throne, armed the grenade, and stuffed it into the pocket of the doomed Cognition's trousers.

"Zero-!" Euphemia gasped. "How could you?"

The Gluttonous Pig devoured the Cognition whole, so focused on its next meal that it remained oblivious to the danger. Letting out a satisfied belch as it was once again restored, the Gluttonous Pig shouted "BU-"

BOOM!

The Gluttonous Pig was promptly torn apart by the explosion, which sent gore and viscera flying in all directions before dissolving into nothingness.

"That Cognition was doomed anyway," Lelouch explained. "Rather than its death being meaningless, with its sacrifice, our victory was assured."

'Still…" Euphemia protested. He could tell that the others didn't approve either. They likely saw it as the cold-blooded murder of a noncombatant. Of his fellow Black Knights, Kallen had always been the least averse to killing, so she might accept it as a necessity, but that didn't mean she liked it.

"Is it any different than when Queen killed that clerk Cognition down in the pharmacy?" Lelouch asked. "No, and your objections were only passing then. If you're afraid to get your hands a bit dirty, then you're already lost, for our enemy has no such compunctions. So let's stop wasting time. We can probably find a Safe Room nearby. That seems to be the pattern in these Palaces."

Sure enough, there was a Safe Room just beyond the food court, an area that appeared to be still under construction, just like the real Babel Tower. If the Black Knights listened carefully, they could even faintly hear the incessant sound of machinery.

"There should be an elevator control room nearby," Lelouch said, reading from a map they had stolen detailing the layout of the Palace. "From there, and with keys from the guards, we should be able to hack into the system to give us access to the casino level again. We should plan to return sooner rather than later. The Black King is sure to tighten security on the Casino level again with the loss of his body double, but if we wait too long, he might discover the hack and reset the system again."

Compared to everything they had been through to get there, taking over the elevator control room was a simple affair for the Black Knights. But exhaustion was setting in, and they agreed that to push further into the Palace that day would be foolhardy. Their route secured, the Black Knights rode the elevators down to the entrance, and departed from the Resort of Gluttony.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 10**

 **A/N**

 **And so the Black Knights have their first encounter with one of Persona and SMT's infamous instant-kill spells, the Bless spell, Mahama. Some may object to me labeling Milly as briefly "dead" as opposed to unconscious, but to me this was always a case of gameplay and story segregation. If the main character gets killed by one of these, they are very explicitly treated as dead, and the symbol for an "unconscious" character is normally a skull and crossbones in the Persona series from P3 onward, which also very much says "dead". Besides, Shadows aren't going to pull their punches.**

 **Fortunately, Persona also features revival magic, in the form of Recarm and Samarecarm, among others. To avoid this being a story-breaking power, I will define these spells as only being able to revive the very recently deceased, and only if their body is sufficiently intact to allow the injury that originally caused death to be repaired. E.g. If the "Chunky Salsa Rule" would apply to a character, they are very definitely dead, and a simple Recarm or Samarecarm isn't going to be enough to revive them.**

 **I always did want the Black King's Palace to be a broader critique of Britannian society and its materialistic aspects rather than a mere retread of Kaneshiro's Palace. Substantial inspiration, from the Karasu Tengu, to the boss battle with Horkos, a.k.a., the Gluttonous Pig, came from Sector Carina in Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, which has the form of a demonic shopping mall.**

 **Normally in P5, the first encounter with a Treasure Demon would be Regent in Madarame's Palace. I chose to delay the encounter with a Treasure Demon until the Black King's Palace, because a jewelry store in a mall seemed a more organic place to include one in the narrative than in Clovis's Theater.**

 **Edit: Also doubled back and expanded Leila's awakening scene in Ch. 16, since I was rather unhappy with its original version. The outcome is still the same, so the story does not change drastically in any way, but I think it is now a more satisfying awakening with proper build up.**


	31. Interlude - A Father's Love

Joesph Fenette sighed. It had been much too long since he had been able to return home. Everything had been in utter chaos since the breakout of the experimental subjects at the Narita lab, and the death of Prince Clovis had almost ruined everything. The late Prince had even identified their project, Code-R, by name just before succumbing to a mental shutdown. While that had averted a greater disaster, the loss of their royal patron had thrown the entire project in jeopardy, but fortunately it turned out that there were others with a keen interest in Cognitive Psience.

Sometimes he questioned if he should have ever involved himself in this line of research. Shirley, his precious daughter, would never understand if she learned exactly what his work actually entailed. She thought that he worked as a geologist, and accepted that he had to be away from home for great lengths of time, but he had always hated lying to her. She idolized him as a perfect father. He still remembered that conversation they had had when she was little as if it were yesterday.

"Guess what Papa? Someday when I grow up, I'm gonna be your wife!"

She of course hadn't really understood what that meant, so he had told her, "Oh that's very sweet of you, honey. But your teacher told you, didn't she? Someday you'll meet the man you really love."

She had looked confused. "More than I do you?"

"Hum… It's hard to explain. Well, if you truly love that person and he cares for you just as much, it would make me the happiest father on Earth."

Young Shirley had taken those words to heart, and he could hardly be more proud of the young woman she had grown up to be. She was honest, hardworking, had plenty of friends, always got good grades, was a star athlete in the Swim Club, and was perhaps even more beautiful than her mother had been. Perhaps he spoiled her a bit, with gifts he sent to cheer her up when she was feeling lonely without him, but she had never taken what she had been given for granted.

Yet things had also taken turn for the worse for his daughter. First there was the physical abuse allegedly perpetrated by her coach on the swim team, much of it specifically directed against her, and Shirley had been too afraid to reach out for help. That he had been unable to spare her those horrors was perhaps his greatest failing as her father. More recently, her letters to him revealed that she had experienced her first broken heart, and the pain of it was clearly eating away at her.

Perhaps he was being derelict in his duty by returning to his family now, but Shirley needed him more than ever, and if he was honest with himself, he wasn't sure he would be alive for much longer. Members of the old Code-R research team had been being killed by mental shutdowns or other "accidents" for some time after Prince Clovis' death, and he had the sense that his days were numbered. He wanted to spend what time he had left with those who had always made him the happiest.

There was another matter gnawing at him. Medical and psychological tests, taken under the guise of routine appointments, had revealed that his daughter possessed high natural potential to harness what they called "The Shadow", that untapped darkness lurking within every human's psyche, turning it out to face the world as what they termed a "Persona". Until recently, the "Persona" concept had been purely hypothetical, until they had artificially induced that potential in a subject, who then successfully manifested a Persona… and proceeded to orchestrate the breakout from the lab. Even getting that far had incurred enormous costs in money, time, and lives, so to find someone so close to him with such strong natural potential was troubling. Shirley wasn't supposed to have that potential. The only reason that he had administered the test to her at all was to validate the test, with his daughter unwittingly serving as part of a much larger control sample, ensuring that it gave significantly different results to those with and without the potential. Shirley could undoubtedly advance their research into Personas considerably, but the process of actually awakening to one's potential was almost invariably traumatic, and very often fatal. He couldn't subject his precious girl to that, so he had destroyed the records of the tests, so as to allow her to continue to live a normal life in blissful ignorance of that other world.

He sat down in his chair, and lifted his glass to his lips. He really could use a drink around-

Joseph Fenette lurched forward, the glass falling from his hands, as a sudden pain lanced through his head. It was excruciating, unlike anything he had ever felt before, like a part of himself had been suddenly ripped away. Without that crucial part, he felt his mind beginning to collapse inward on itself. While that would have been frightening enough on its own, it was made all the more terrifying to him because he knew exactly what was happening to him but was utterly powerless to prevent it.

They had got him. This was what a mental shutdown felt like.

Shirley… she wasn't home yet… he hadn't wanted her… to… see…

He coughed up black ichor.

This was the end for him.

He was so-

xXx

"Father, I'm home!" Shirley called. She hadn't expected him to be able to take time off from work. It was just the bright spot she needed right now.

There was no answer.

"Father?" She repeated, her expression faltering slightly.

Everything in the house was eerily quiet. Suddenly having a very bad feeling, Shirley quietly walked into the living room.

There her father was, seated in his chair, but he appeared to take no notice of her.

"Daddy?" she asked, slowly walking closer.

In another moment, she wished that she hadn't.

"Father!" Shirley let out an anguished gasp, and dropped to her knees, covering her mouth as an overwhelming wave of nausea washed over her.

Her father was dead, his eyes rolled back into his head, black ooze leaking from his every orifice….

Just like how Prince Clovis had died.

Shirley threw up, and then broke down sobbing uncontrollably.

Why? Who would want to kill her father? He had never hurt her. Why now of all times? She suddenly felt like a ship adrift without an anchor.

No… she knew exactly who had killed her father… the same people who had killed Prince Clovis….

The Black Knights.

A/N

 **Joseph Fenette's characterization as a member of the Code-R research team is never definitively shown in the TV series proper, but he is portrayed as such in a novelization of the series.**

 **The dialogue in the recollection of the conversation between the young Shirley and her father is taken from Episode 13 of Code Geass, as it is important to establishing the nature of their relationship.**

 **The pace of updates will slow for a while, probably to once every few weeks due to considerations IRL, but I should be able to resume a more rapid pace of writing come summertime.**


	32. The Tower of Excess

The death of Shirley's father caught the Black Knights completely by surprise, especially when they learned that he had been murdered by a mental shutdown.

"This is awful…" Milly murmured.

"Why would someone kill her father?" Kallen frowned.

"Who can say?" Lelouch replied. "It could be any number of reasons. Politics, a grudge, keep him from talking about something… We know a number of the early mental shutdown murders were carried out on Clovis' orders, but at the time they seemed like random killings. We simply don't have enough to go on, only that it's another crime this Black Mask has to answer for."

"It seems Shirley was quite close to her father," Milly said solemnly, any of her usual mirth gone. "We need to be there for her as she grieves. She says the funeral has been scheduled for three days from now.

"Don't you think that's unusually fast, given that any death by mental shutdown is considered suspicious?" Lelouch asked. "You'd think they would need more time for an autopsy. Unless someone higher up just wants him buried as soon as possible…. It's a cover-up, mark my words."

"That's not what matters right now, Lelouch," Milly replied.

Lelouch grimaced. "The funeral falls within the ideal window for our next infiltration of the Palace."

"You really are clueless when it comes to girls, aren't you?" Arthur asked.

"That's not what I meant," Lelouch said irritably. "Of course we'll attend the funeral… but we'll have to infiltrate the Palace immediately afterward to remain on schedule. If the hack to the elevator controls is discovered before we return, then the last infiltration will have been for nothing."

xXx

"It was bad enough when they killed the Viceroy," Nina said softly as she accepted the materials Lelouch had brought her from the Metaverse. "But to think the Black Knights would kill someone so close to one of us…?"

"Do you really think the Black Knights did it?" Lelouch asked.

"What do you mean?"

"The rumor is that the Black Knights are students here at Ashford Academy. That's why Rolo came to this school, isn't it?"

"Yes," Nina said, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"If that's true, then the Black Knights likely have friends here at Ashford. We may even know some of them. I can't believe that they would intentionally target Shirley's father."

"That may be so, but…" Nina began.

"There's something else that doesn't sit right with me," Lelouch continued. "Why would they kill Shirley's father with a mental shutdown, when they just changed Coach Nu's heart?"

"Who can understand how terrorists think?" Nina replied uneasily.

Ippon-Datara whispered to Lelouch, telling him that it would be best to change the subject.

"How is that project of yours coming along, Nina?" He asked. "It must be something pretty big, if you still need materials for it."

"Umm…. Would you like to see it?" Nina asked.

She led him to a laboratory space in the basement. There, there was a large object, several times Nina's height, covered by a tarp.

"What exactly have you been building, Nina?" Lelouch asked. Was that what he thought it was?

Nina clambered up a ladder that she had on the side, and pulled away the tarp, revealing something humanoid in shape, a Frankenstein-like creation made of welded together sheets of scrap metal, and thick bundles of silk yarn formed into tendons that would allow it to move at joints well-lubricated with oil, to name just a few of the eclectic materials from the Metaverse that had been incorporated into its design.

It was a Knightmare Frame, or at least, one that was under construction.

"It's not much…" Nina said nervously. "I had to be creative with the materials that I had, but I couldn't have gotten this far without your help…"

"You've been building a Knightmare Frame by yourself? That's incredible!" How had she even managed to keep such a large project hidden?

"My grandfather used to work on building Knightmare Frame," Nina explained, "and I've had the chance to look at the Ganymede. That helped a lot… But my Knightmare is so shoddy by comparison…. It's just the outer frame too, and even that's not finished. I've been able to get some electronics for it, but I really need some sakuradite if I'm ever going to finish this…"

Sakuradite wasn't something that the Black Knights readily had access to. He supposed that the mall in the Black King's Palace might sell some, but Nina would instantly be suspicious of him if he were to bring her some himself, so that wasn't a viable solution. But perhaps…

"I've tried writing to universities to see if I can get some small samples for research." Nina frowned. "But they won't take me seriously. To be honest, the Knightmare is just a side-project of mine," she admitted.

A Knightmare Frame was just a side project?

"Working with my hands helps take my mind off things… especially now," Nina continued as she picked up some tools. "But I've been working on a more theoretical project. I've only been able to do simulations so far… But I think there's a far more efficient way to harness sakuradite."

"What sort of way?" he asked her.

"All matter is made up of atoms," she began, "and at the center of each atom is the nucelus, composed of protons and neutrons. Normally, these particles are tightly bound together. But if you could split the atom, you would be able to convert a tiny portion of its mass into an enormous amount of energy." Nina continued to grow more animated as she spoke. "It could be possible to make this into a self-sustaining reaction, and the unique properties of sakuradite could vastly increase the effective yield of this process if introduced into…"

The technical details that Nina started to delve into were far beyond his own expertise. Perhaps he should have paid more attention in physics class. He was more than capable of doing the work, and he rarely needed to study for tests, as he could usually anticipate the sorts of questions his teachers would ask, but out of boredom and not wanting to stand out, he had never truly applied himself in school. But the more Nina talked, the more he realized that the theories she was discussing were definitely beyond anything their teachers had ever taught them, much less understood themselves.

Nina generally got high grades, especially in mathematics and science, but if what she was saying was correct….

She was a genius.

How could Nina, whose intellect evidently rivaled, and likely even far surpassed his in her own area of speciality, have remained practically unnoticed to him for so long? Well, the answer to that was obvious. Nina was so shy and unassuming most of the time, content just to blend in, even among the other members of the Student Council that sometimes one might not even notice that she was there. All the while, she had been quietly conducting her research in the background for who knew how long.

But now, she had confided her work in him, and he felt he understood her a bit better.

The power of the Hermit grew within him.

xXx

Lelouch found that he didn't have the energy to head out that night, so he returned to his room in the Clubhouse. To his displeasure, Tsu was there, waiting for him, stretched out on his bed.

"What do you want?" He asked the green-haired warden.

"Someone close to a friend of yours has died, haven't they?" Tsu asked.

"Who told you? Igor?"

Tsu bristled at the suggestion. "I have ways of finding things out on my own without the Nose's help."

"I don't think I've ever heard you refer to your Master in such an insolent manner before." Tsu's eyes narrowed, but he raised a hand slightly before she could speak. "Don't worry. If he doesn't already know, then I won't tell him. I have no love for him either."

"My Master can see almost anything in this world from within the Velvet Room," Tsu explained. "As he told you once, it is designed as a panopticon. But even he cannot keep his attention on everything at once. There are only a handful of humans who are capable of holding his attention for long. He is particularly interested in you, Inmate. You realize that, don't you?"

"A fact I am all too aware of."

"So what will you do now?" Tsu asked him.

"The same as I've always done. There was nothing we could have done to prevent the death of Shirley's father, not when we don't even know who the real culprit is. We never even imagined that he might be a target. There's no reason why our plans should change over such a thing. Whether or not her father died, we still have to change the Black King's heart and find the Black Mask."

"Indeed, you are correct not to let emotions cloud your judgment. But have you at least tried to comfort the poor girl?"

"Shirley barely came out of her room in the dorms today, and she hasn't exactly wanted to speak to me since she saw me with Kallen. What is it to you anyway?"

"Nothing," Tsu said after a moment. Lelouch could tell that she was lying, but he also sensed that it would be unwise to press her further.

"Well, aren't you going to get your rest, Inmate?" Tsu asked, filling in the awkward silence.

"How am I supposed to sleep with you there?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll be back in the Velvet Room before morning."

"That's not the point." He shook his head. "Unbelievable. I'll sleep on the floor."

"Get in the bed, Inmate," Tsu growled.

Arthur was demanding that he go to bed had been just a nightmare, but he couldn't wake up from Tsu demanding that he join her there, and unlike Arthur, she could punish him for refusing.

"Fine. But don't think I'm going to be doing anything other than trying to sleep."

"Did I ask for anything else?" Tsu replied venomously.

Tsu fell asleep before he did. Relieved that he wouldn't have to put up with her attitude any longer, Lelouch finally could start drifting off himself. If he could just ignore the body in the bed next to him…

"No…" he heard Tsu whisper next to him.

Quizzically, he turned to look at her. Tsu's eyes were still closed, but there was an uncharacteristic look of anxiety on her face.

"Just…. Let me die…" She tossed and turned in the bed, her movements becoming more fitful. "…. Torn…. apart…. Sister…. Please…. Help me…. Trickster…."

He had never seen Tsu so vulnerable before, and in that moment she did not seem like the callous and spiteful witch that she so often portrayed herself as, but a frightened girl who tried desperately to cover up the inner demons that tormented her so that she might project an image of strength. And come to think of it, Tsu had always called him "Inmate". But just now, she had called him "Trickster" instead.

Cautiously, Lelouch reached out, and wrapped an arm around Tsu. She rolled closer, clinging to him tightly. Slowly, the anxiety on her face eased, replaced by a peaceful expression as she slept soundly.

"You just wanted help sleeping…" he murmured softly so as not to wake her. He shook his head again. Tsu would never admit to it, lest she appear weak in front of him or her sister. But she didn't need to be alone. They were confidants, accomplices, and he would support her as he would Kallen or any of the other Black Knights.

Death resonated within him, marking another step forward in his relationship with his green-haired wardens.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 9**

xXx

As Tsu had promised, she had vanished from his room when morning broke. The only sign that she had been there was disheveled sheets on her side of the bed.

The afternoon was spent catching up on Student Council business that had been neglected and getting ahead on upcoming business so that they would be free to attend the funeral and infiltrate the Palace during the following day. Shirley wasn't in attendance at the meeting, not that anyone blamed her. For the most part, their work was completed in silence. Rolo did not talk much either, apparently sensing that there was no useful information to be gained, and for that he was grateful.

Lelouch once again stayed at the Clubhouse after the meeting had been adjourned.

"I wish there was more I could do to help," Arthur said wistfully after the others had departed. "It feels like I'm hardly good for anything except being a mascot these days."

"That's not true," Lelouch told Arthur.

"Think about it! You can wield multiple Personas. The power of Queen's new Persona is unmatched. Diamond almost always finds a way to lift everyone's spirits. If she can't, you know it's really bad. Bishop has clairvoyance in the Metaverse. Noire can bring people back to life. I'm… I'm just a stray cat that stumbled into the Metaverse and happened to obtain a Persona. I'm not at all special compared to the rest of you."

"That doesn't matter," Lelouch said. "If it were not for you, then I would have never met Kallen in the Metaverse, and we wouldn't know about Mementos either. Besides, you sell yourself short, Tama. It's precisely because you are a cat that you will always have a talent that no one else on the Black Knights can replace. You can fit in spaces where no one else can, which may prove invaluable to infiltrating some targets. Besides, you're one of us. That won't change."

"I guess there's more than one reason why you're our leader," Arthur replied. "You have that charisma that binds everyone together. Thanks, Zero. I needed that."

The power of the Magician grew.

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 8**

xXx

It was raining at the funeral.

The service itself was closed casket, no doubt because of the gruesome nature of a mental shutdown. Shirley was dressed in a black mourning dress that cut off above her knees, but long gray stockings ensured that she was completely covered, save for her hands and her head, which had a black ribbon tied into her hair. Her mother, slightly shorter than her daughter, had light brown hair, trimmed short, though she had green eyes like Shirley. She too was dressed in mourning, with a gray coat over a long, narrow black dress, with a matching choker and a small hat on her head. Once they moved out of the church for the burial, they held umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain, but it did nothing to make them any less miserable.

"He was a pious soul who is always looked to God in his life and friend to us all," the officiating priest recited. "To his wife he was a devoted husband, to his child a loving father. May he rest in peace, forever cradled in the bosom of our Lord."

Shirley's mother broke down, wailing as her husband's coffin vanished beneath the Earth, begging him not to leave her.

"Please, Mom," Shirley said, clearly holding back her own sorrow as she held her mother, trying to calm her. "He's already gone."

"How are you holding up, Shirley?" Milly asked after the burial was completed. "We've all been worried about you. You don't need to hold it all in. You can cry if you want."

"I'm fine," Shirley said, shaking her head. "I've already cried a lot. It just… none of it seems real… My father… he was so gentle… he never, ever hurt me… he didn't do anything wrong… So why did the Black Knights kill him? None of it makes any sense…"

"You know we're there for you, Shirley," Milly told her, "back in the old Student Council room, same as ever."

"I'm so sorry, Shirley," Kallen began. "We couldn't -" She cut herself off. No doubt she had been about to say that they couldn't catch the killer, or something to that effect, but the sickly Kallen that Shirley knew had no business looking for a serial murderer.

"Why are you apologizing, Kallen?" Shirley asked. "You didn't do anything wrong." But Shirley's voice contained a hint of bitterness in it.

"What do the Black Knights hope to gain from this?" Suzaku seethed. "Meaningless killings like this will do nothing to make the world a better place. It's just cowardly!"

"This is terrible," Rolo said, tearing up slightly. "I didn't know your father, Shirley, but to see the pain that has been left behind…. I've been on lots of cases before, but never has one touched so close to me before. I promise you, I will find his killer."

"The Black Knights have to be brought to justice," Suzaku agreed.

"Thank you," Shirley said quietly.

The members of the Student Council turned to leave, but Shirley stayed where she was. "Lulu…" she murmured.

Milly gave Lelouch a nod, and gave him a gentle push toward Shirley, before departing with the others.

"It's been a while since we talked, Lulu," Shirley said, her eyes focused on the ground.

"Yeah," he nodded, unsure of what to say.

"I didn't want the others to worry about me…" she whispered. "But I feel like I'm drowning. I dream of being on a sinking ship, and I'm unable to save my father, no matter how hard I try. I don't know why everything started to go wrong… I don't want this!"

The tears she had been holding back finally burst loose, and Shirley dropped her umbrella, flung her arms around him, and began sobbing into his shoulder.

"Please, Lulu…" she begged. "Help me." Her green eyes, now tinged red with tears, stared up into his violet ones.

Lelouch couldn't help but be reminded of Tsu's nightmare, just two nights before. Reaching around, he wrapped his arms around Shirley, holding her close to comfort her. If that had worked then…

He was taken off guard as Shirley raised herself up slightly to kiss him, closing her eyes as if to block out the cruelties of the world.

What should he do? If he pushed Shirley away now, he would hurt her even more. She had trusted him with he true depth of her pain when she wouldn't show it to anyone else, and it was clear that Shirley was on the verge of collapse. No, it was clear what he had to do. She desperately needed emotional support right now, and if he was the only one who could provide that to her, he would.

He closed his own eyes and returned Shirley's kiss.

Kallen wouldn't be happy if she knew, but he couldn't think of a better way to help Shirley right now. It wasn't as if he found kissing Shirley unpleasant either. Her lips were soft and warm, and in another life, one where he hadn't been born as royalty or where he hadn't become a phantom thief in the Metaverse, then perhaps it could have worked out between them. But he couldn't get Shirley more involved that she had already been. Kallen shared in his secret life in ways that Shirley could not, and however much affection he might feel for both of them, only one of them could follow him to the end. Yet for just this moment, he could allow himself to pretend that things were different.

Suddenly, Shirley broke the kiss and pushed away from him. Rather than being calmed, she looked more distraught than ever, and was drenched as the rain poured down on her. In the distance, lightning flashed and thunder could be heard.

"I… I shouldn't have done that…." Shirley stammered.

"Shirley?"

"Y-you're with K-Kallen, Lulu," Shirley continued, looking as if she wanted to shrink away and disappear. "That- that was wrong of me… I made you…"

"Shirley!"

But she had already turned and run, and he had no hope of catching up to her outside of the Metaverse.

He sighed. He had only made things worse for Shirley. But he had to put her from his mind for now. The other Black Knights were waiting for him to lead them into the Black King's Palace.

xXx

Thankfully, the Black King's guards hadn't noticed that the elevator system had been tampered with, and the ride up to the casino level was uneventful. Lelouch didn't mention the incident with Shirley to his fellow Black Knights. It would not do to distract them during the infiltration.

"We're no longer considered employees of the casino, so the Shadows here will mark us as hostiles," he warned them. "Be on your guard."

The Black Knights slipped through the Casino level, using the rows upon rows of slot machines as cover to hide from or ambush the Shadows patrolling the area. The casino was also populated with plenty of Cognitions, as the mall down below was. They paid the Black Knights little mind, too absorbed with throwing their money away on games that were obviously rigged against them, or spending whatever they did manage to win on alcohol, or for the privilege of participating in "Rabbit Hunts", where they would pursue female Cognitions dressed in bunny outfits, forcing themselves upon and devouring those that they caught.., though many a would-be hunter was instead consumed by the bunny-suited Shadows that moved among their prey.

"Even here…" Euphemia murmured unhappily. "The strong devour and consume the weak…"

"It's the natural result of father's ideology," he told her. "More than anything, that is the cancer at the core of Britannian society that we need to root out."

As they moved through the casino, they came across a large pit, looking down into an arena, where a pair of Cognitions, which appeared to be Japanese men, were fighting each other.

"Today, a brutal match between brothers. Which sibling will win? The older one or the younger? Place your bets now, or sign up to compete for fabulous prizes in one-on-one, life-and-death struggles! It's survival of the fittest! Our top prize today is an exclusive pass to the penthouse level, proof that you have the strength to rise to the highest echelons of society!

Kallen scowled and clenched a fist. "I bet he does this in real life too." Her voice rose with boiling fury, kept under a lid only for the sake of their mission. "It's bad enough that he turns young Japanese women who have nowhere else to go into sex slaves and floods the streets with Refrain, but he also has Japanese men kill each other for sport!"

"Still, this is a chance to sneak in and nab the Black King's Treasure!" Arthur piped up.

"Whoever goes into that arena will be all but cut off from support," Leila frowned. "I can advise them telepathically, but that's it."

"I'll go." Kallen said. "I'll show them not to mess with the Japanese people. Guren Jigoku-"

"Is limited to nuclear and physical modes of attack, and has no healing abilities if you get injured in the arena," Lelouch told her, firmly putting a hand on her shoulder. "There's no telling what you might go up against in there. If the enemy is resistant to your attacks, then you'll be in trouble. Tama, Diamond, Bishop, and Noire can heal themselves if need be, but they are similarly limited in their own modes of attacks. Their Personas are also more magically oriented but less durable than yours."

"So what you're saying is that you get to hog all the glory because your ability to use multiple Personas allows you to adapt to whatever opponent you might face," Milly interjected.

"I wouldn't phrase it that way, but yes," Lelouch replied.

"There has to be a better way…" Leila whispered, deep in thought. "Surely there's another way in."

"Yes!" Euphemia agreed.

"We can keep searching for one," Lelouch countered, "but the longer we take the more chance that the alarm will be raised and that they'll lock us out of the system. Some calculated risks have to be taken in any campaign."

"Very well," Leila nodded. "Good luck."

"Don't be too reckless out there, Zero," Kallen warned.

"Please, brother… come back alive… for Nunnally's sake," Euphemia pleaded with him.

"Don't worry," he told her. "The last thing I want is for Nunnally to cry."

Lelouch approached a stand, where one of the Black King's minions was registering entrants for the arena.

"You look scrawny, kid," the minion told him. "You don't stand a chance in the ring."

"Appearances can be deceiving."

"Hmph. What name will you register under?"

"Zero."

"It's your funeral."

The gates leading to the arena opened up, and Lelouch allowed himself to be escorted inside.

"And we have a new challenger!" The announcer roared. "Can it be? The leader of the so-called Black Knights himself? He calls himself Zero, but he's about to learn that his odds of winning are zero! Let us introduce his first opponent, the mighty Battle Fiend!"

Three Shadows with red skin, long, wickedly sharp horns that struck out of their foreheads as long black hair trailed behind them, each armed with a pair of curved swords, materialized in front of him.

Of course the Black King wasn't going to play fair. If he would cheat at chess, what wouldn't he cheat at?

"You're outnumbered, but they should have a weakness you can exploit," Leila said into his mind. "I'll see if I can analyze it."

"A new skill of yours?"

"There's no time for that, Zero! Give me a moment, and try to hold out until then."

The Battle Fiends charged forward, raising their blades high over their heads. Lelouch summoned Matador and cast Sukukaja, increasing his own agility. Waiting until the last moment, he nimbly stepped out of the way, allowing two of the Battle Fiends to crash headlong into each other, stunning them for a moment.

"Wind!" Leila called out into his mind. "The enemy is weak to wind!"

"Perfect." Matador blasted the third Battle Fiend with Garula, and then all of them with Magaru for good measure. The Battle Fiends rose and tried to strike back, but with Matador guiding his steps, Lelouch moved like an expert bullfighter, easily evading their all too obvious attacks, giant blades slicing through the air above him and to his sides, before countering with more bursts of wind.

"I don't believe it!" The announcer shouted. "The Battle Fiends have fallen! No matter! Next, up, we have a mighty warrior looking to avenge past defeats in other arenas, but only one shall leave this match!"

The Shadow that appeared was a horned demon with greenish skin and Japanese clothes. It was missing its arms and was bound in ropes, but Lelouch knew that it would be unwise to underestimate it.

"It's going to cast a spell, Zero!" Leila's voice called out in his mind. "Take cover!"

Lightning struck where he had been just moments before. It was fortunate that he had been able to evade it thanks to Leila's warning, as Matador was highly vulnerable to lightning. He changed his Persona to Leanan Sidhe, a former Shadow of the Lovers Arcana whom he had convinced to join him earlier during the infiltration of the casino, and was resistant to both electric and psychic attacks.

The Defeated Avenger unleashed more powerful arcs of electricity across the arena. Lelouch couldn't dodge them this time, but Leanan Sidhe protected him from the worst of the shock. Painful as it was, the sensation would fade before long.

Seeing that its lightning had failed to produce the desired effect, the Defeated Avenger changed its tactics. It lacked arms, but it was perfectly capable of leaping high into the air and diving down toward Lelouch. Only a timely roll to the side, one he wouldn't be capable of outside of the Metaverse, prevented him from being crushed under its mass.

"I've analyzed its defenses! It's mental barriers are weak!" Leila announced.

What a stroke of luck! Leanan Sidhe was well suited to this opponent indeed.

"Psio!" Lelouch called out, summoning his Persona.

The Defeated Avenger would have grasped its head, if it still had arms, but it could only writhe impotently side to side in agony.

Lelouch put it out of its misery with some well-placed bullets into its skull.

"Impossible! He must be cheating!" The announcer hissed.

Yes, receiving telepathic guidance from Leila was undoubtedly cheating, but the Black King's minions had cheated first, and one never got anywhere by following rules that were rigged against them from the start.

"Well, this last challenger will bring about his final judgement! From a far away land, welcome the Bearer of the Scales!"

A jackal-headed Shadow in Egyptian garb appeared before him, sitting cross-legged as it floated in midair with a set of scales held from its right hand. Lelouch knew enough about Egyptian mythology to recognize it immediately, and clearly Leila did too.

"That's Anubis… the Judge of the Dead…" Leila gasped through her mental link with him. "Be careful, Zero! Anubis is far more powerful than the other Shadows!"

Anubis raised its scales. Lelouch didn't need Leila to tell him that this meant his opponent was about to cast a spell. A tall column of cards glowing with blessed energy appeared around him… the same cards that had briefly killed Milly, only more of them.

This was very bad.

Lelouch didn't waste an instant, diving out of the column an instant before the energy discharged to claim his spirit. He might have Personas with healing abilities, but he couldn't revive himself if he was dead, and even if Euphy were to rush to his side, he would likely be past the point of recovery by the time she got down into the arena.

Anubis made no move to pursue him, simply turning in place as it continued to hover above the ground, tracking him with its beady eyes.

"Another spell incoming! It's going to be a curse!"

"Ippon-Datara!"

"This will hurt!" Anubis taunted as it raised its scales again.

A large swirl of red energy, accompanied by tormented spirits, their forms little more than sheet-like silhouettes, save for their white expressions of terror, rushed around him. There was no avoiding it, and hurt it did. Lelouch felt much of his vitality sapped away in spite of Ippon-Datara's innate resistance to curse spells, yet Leila's precognition had been a lifesaver, for such a powerful curse would have certainly killed him outright had he not been shielded from its full force by his Persona.

Still, he was badly hurt, and Ippon-Datara lacked any healing spells. There were other Personas he could have used to nullify the curse, or now to heal his injuries, but they would leave him fully exposed a deadly reprisal from Anubis' magic.

Distantly, he could hear the announcer howling with glee at his presumed imminent demise. The gathered Shadows and Cognitions in the stands thought he was cornered.

Lelouch smirked.

Who said he needed to use a Persona?

He grabbed a small bottle from him pocket, labeled "Recov-R: 100 mg", one of the medicines he had stolen with his fellow Black Knights back in the Palace's pharmacy. Swallowing its contents, the effects were instantaneous. It was fast-acting indeed, just as advertised. Of course, he couldn't hope to win if he was forced to remain on the defensive. Anubis would quickly outpace his ability to heal himself, or would get lucky and slay him instantly with those exorcising cards.

"I've completed my analysis of the enemy," Leila reported. "Anubis has no overt weaknesses, but-"

"It's entirely reliant on magic," Lelouch grinned, finishing her sentence. "Thank you, Leila," he thought back. "I know how to handle this."

He made a feint toward Anubis, prompting it to launch a barrage of blessed energy at him, lances of light striking where he had been just moments before. Without stopping, he changed his Persona to High Pixie. It was a risk, as this Persona lacked any particular resistance to bless or curse magic, but a calculated one, which would hopefully end the fight decisively in his favor.

"Makajama!"

It was a spell that High Pixie had inherited from Makami when he executed it with Incubus. Against most Shadows, which could be dispatched fairly quickly, it was practically useless, but against a foe like Anubis.

The spell struck Anubis. It caused no damage, but as Anubis raised its scales once more, an absentminded look crossed its face.

"Huh? What was I doing? How do I…?" It murmured.

Anubis' mighty spells were worthless if it couldn't remember how to cast them.

"This is your chance, Zero!" Leila called in encouragement.

It took a while to wear Anubis down, but it was at a complete loss as to how to defend itself, so his victory was assured.

"I… I can't believe it!" sputtered the announcer. "That scrawny thief even defeated the Bearer of Scales? There's no way I can just hand over the VIP pass to someone like you!"

"What does your Black King always say?" Lelouch smirked confidently. "The weak are devoured by the strong. If you won't hand over my prize, I'll have no issue devouring you in turn and taking it by force. I am a thief after all."

"Fine!" The announcer spat. "You are indeed the winner, Zero. In fact, I hope you get to meet the Black King up in his penthouse. He'll put you and your little friends in their place!"

The VIP Pass materialized before Lelouch, and he seized his hard-fought prize.

"You did well, Bishop," he told Leila as he rejoined the other Black Knights outside the arena.

"Thank you," she smiled gently.

"You really had me worried there," Euphemia frowned.

"That last one might have given me some trouble," Kallen admitted.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Milly asked. "The Black King's Treasure awaits!"

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Diamond!" Arthur agreed.

xXx

The Black King's penthouse occupied the uppermost floors of the Palace, accessed from a private elevator from the casino area. The floors were sheathed in tiles of white and black marble in a checkerboard pattern, and no expense had been spared on fine furniture, rugs, chandeliers, and even some paintings and sculptures that looked as if they had been designed by the late Prince Clovis, but less tasteful works were among them as well, with a far more prurient view of their subject matter. At a glance, the penthouse may have seemed palatial, but the more they saw, the more garish and off-putting it became. Some of the Black King's possessions seemed to be abandoned, quietly gathering dust in the corners, while others were unmistakably stained with blood, and there more than a few skulls and random bits of bone lying on the floor.

Finally, they found what they had been searching for. There the Black King's Treasure was, shimmering in the air. Of course, it lacked a proper physical form, so they couldn't steal it quite yet.

"So… that's a Treasure?" Euphemia asked quietly. "If we take that… the Black King's heart will really change?"

"That's right, Noire," Lelouch told her. "But it won't just be the Black King's heart that changes. Clovis, twisted as he was, only directly touched the lives of a handful of Brittanians, with most of his tyranny focused on the Japanese. But the Black King happily preyed upon Japanese and Britannians alike. When we take him down, life will change for countless people throughout the Tokyo Settlement, and it will change for the better. That's the sort of world that Nunnally deserves, one where the weak are protected from the strong. Don't you agree?"

She nodded.

Lelouch's grin grew wider. "Then all of the necessary conditions have been cleared. All we have to do is send a certain Mr. King a calling card."

 **Days Until Lelouch and Nunnally are Discovered: 7**

 **A/N:**

 **In canon, Shirley kissed Lelouch in the rain shortly after the death of her father, which is reflected here, though the circumstances are different, and the kiss takes place after his funeral instead. Of course, given Lelouch's relationship with Kallen in this story, which had not remotely developed to such an extent in canon by that point, Shirley becomes even more conflicted by the kiss than in canon.**

 **The arena is inspired both on an arena briefly observed in Babel Tower in the first episode of R2, where two Japanese brothers were fighting each other for the amusement of Brittanians, and the Battle Arena in the sixth palace of Persona 5, though the enemies that appear are different. Anubis was originally an extremely powerful Shadow (for the time) patrolling the fourth palace in Persona 5. Anubis' role in this story, featuring as the final challenge of the arena in the third palace, should be a clue to the astute reader that the visual theme of the fourth palace in this story will be very different than in Persona 5.**

 **Edit: Revised the ending of the fight with Anubis, since it was correctly pointed out to me that Makajama is a Physiological Status ailment in P5, not a mental status ailment, and thus does not qualify from Technical Damage from Psio.**


	33. Blooming Villain

"What did you just say?" The Black King growled at his underling.

"Mr. King, we found these posted around Babel Tower's construction site." The underling held a red card in his hands. "It appears to be the work of the Black Knights."

"Those punks again…Just when I thought they were done trashing my organization." The Black King crushed a chestnut in his hands as if it was the skull of whoever was leading the hated Black Knights. "What does it say?"

The underling swallowed. "To Lord Blake King, the beast of Gluttony, the Black King who disgraces the name of King and devours Japanese and Britannians alike, engaging in Refrain trafficking, prostitution, racketeering, blackmail, and other crimes too numerous to list: we have you in check. We stand poised to steal your distorted desires and make you confess your crimes with your own mouth. This will be done without fail. Signed, The Black Knights."

The Black King let out a harsh, barking laugh, and for a moment the world flickered around him.

"So that's it?" The Black King's Shadow snarled. "Come and try to take my Treasure! I'm not as soft as the late Prince Clovis was! I'll devour you like everyone else who's dared to stand in my way!"

The world returned to normal, with the Black King's underling clearly oblivious to what had just happened.

"What are your orders, Mr. King?"

"Put all our men on standby, take down those calling cards, and have them rough up anyone who talks about them."

"Mr. King," the underling replied nervously. "People are already talking about it all over the net!"

"What?!" The Black King rose to his feet. "Pay off the police and media! Do whatever it takes to get this story buried, or I'll snap you like a twig!"

"Yes, sir!"

As his underling scurried away, the Black King continued to fume. How had this happened? Maybe gambling would relieve some of his stress… And then there was the matter of the blackmail he had on the Third Princess. She had held out longer than most of his marks, but that was to be expected, given her position. But she would cave before long, and the payment of one million pounds would go a long way toward recouping the costs of the bribes he would have to make to quash the slander that the Black Knights had spread against him.

A smile spread over his face. Perhaps he would release the picture anyway after she paid him. Playing fair was for the weak, and seeing her and her commoner boyfriend brought to their knees would be just the thing to cheer him up.

xXx

Lelouch finished fusing new Personas in the Velvet Room and returned to his teammates, assembled for the heist. Euphemia seemed concerned that he had zoned out for a moment, but the other Black Knights waved this off, used to it by now and accepting his explanation that it helped him organize his Personas, which was in a sense true.

"Is everyone ready?" He asked. "There's no turning back once we enter the Palace."

The Black Knights nodded.

"Then let our heist begin!"

The guards seemed more organized than Clovis' had been during the raid on the Aries Villa at the bottom of the late Viceroy's Palace had been, but while they put up stiff resistance on the way to the penthouse elevator, they couldn't stop the advance of the Black Knights. The Black King evidently hadn't changed the VIP Pass either, which could have been an unwelcome complication in their approach, allowing the Black Knights to ride up to the Treasure.

Lelouch of course wasn't naive enough to assume that this meant acquiring the Treasure would be easy once they arrived in the penthouse. Rather, the Black King would be expecting them.

They would have to fight for the Treasure once again.

"It took you long enough," the Black King's Shadow growled, standing between them and his Treasure, now revealed to be a red crown, lined with spikes. "I'll admit, you've been worthy opponents. Few could have made it here. But your luck has run out."

"Please, stand aside," Euphemia said, stepping forward. "While we will not hesitate to take your Treasure from you by force if necessary, I'd rather that we didn't have to fight. Can't you see how twisted your heart has become? I don't know what made you like this, but let us help you."

Lelouch shook his head. Euphy really was too kind, but he was glad to see that her stance hadn't wavered. She wouldn't be taken hostage by the Black King like last time.

"Spare me your platitudes, Princess!" The Black King's Shadow snarled. "Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get to where I am? Do I look like a pure-blooded Britannian to you? Of course I'm not! I went through shit, clawing for scraps amidst the dregs of society!" His expression turned to a demented grin. "But eventually, I grew strong, and I rose to the top of the food chain! I even managed to purchase myself a hereditary title of nobility!"

"So he's like Coach Nu…" Milly murmured.

"But a thousand times worse," Kallen replied, glaring at the Black King's Shadow. "Just because you had a crappy childhood doesn't give you the right to ruin so many lives, including my mother's! I'll make you pay for everyone you've harmed!"

"Why should I care about the herd?" The Black King's Shadow sneered. "They can barely think for themselves anyway. They're only good as livestock, waiting to be devoured by those who hold power in society! " He waved a hand dismissively. "Nobody cared when I rounded up those orphaned Eleven Brats off the streets and handed them over to the Third Prince's scientists."

"You were working on Code-R?" Leila gasped.

"Prince Clovis and I had an understanding," the Black King's Shadow continued smugly. "I provided him with the equipment and experimental subjects that he needed through unofficial channels, and he looked the other way for my other enterprises, allowing my business to grow like never before." His face contorted in anger. "But then you and the new Viceroy had to ruin that!"

"How much did you know about the Third Prince's research?" Lelouch demanded.

"I knew better than to ask about the details," the Black King shrugged. "Why ruin such a perfect partnership by sticking one's nose where it doesn't belong? That's a lesson you should have learned for yourselves, thieves."

"We're nothing if not persistent," Arthur retorted.

"Indeed you are," the Black King's Shadow agreed. "That's why you have to die!"

Darkness converged on the Black King's Shadow, and he burst outward, reforming in a new, monstrous shape. A giant black, hairless head, itself as tall as the Black Knights were, with pointed ears, malevolent eyes, and raw, fleshy strips running down the sides of it face appeared, crowned by the Treasure. It appeared half-submerged in the floor, so that the rest of its body could not be seen, assuming that there even was more to it, but its many sharp, angled teeth were plain for all to see, not hidden behind fleshy lips.

"I am the Demon of Gluttony," the Black King's transformed Shadow announced, "Blake Alciel King! I care not who you are, thieves! I'll sink my teeth into you all the same!"

Alciel let out a roar, its shoulders briefly rising up through the floor, its open maw giving the Black Knights a wholly unwanted view of his uvula, not to mention the saliva dripping from its fangs, which moved almost as if they had minds of their own.

"Still, I hardly think six against one is fair," Alciel sneered. "Let's even the odds a little bit."

The ground shook, as two rows of black sculptures rose from the floor… no… they were Cognitions, chess pieces brought to life, pawns in the front, and noble pieces flanking Alciel behind them.

"Come on!" Arthur shouted. "Now it's sixteen versus six!"

"We didn't expect him to play fair," Lelouch replied, unperturbed. "Queen, Noire, Diamond! Wipe out those pawns!"

Euphemia lobbed a grenade into the middle of the line of pawns, while Milly fired a spray of bullets into them with her machine gun. Kallen summoned Guren Jigoku, casting Mafrei and launching rapid-fire bursts of nuclear energy at each pawn in turn. In short order, the central four pawns had been destroyed, and the others had been knocked to the ground.

"Useless!" Alciel shouted at his pawns. "Destroy those Black Knights, or I'll eat you myself!"

The pawns only twitched impotently, struggling to rise.

"If you want something done right, you have to have nobles do it," snarled Alciel. "Knights, charge!"

Alciel's knights, clad in black armor, leapt over the pawns, wielding long lances, though the bulk of their horses would be threatening enough on its own. Without waiting a moment, the knights charged, rushing straight ahead, though if they behaved as he expected, they would change direction at the last moment.

"Shiki-Ouji!" Lelouch called out. A tall Persona that appeared to be made of intricately folded white and red paper, covered with mystic characters and a star on its broad, crescent-shaped head, appeared to intercept the enemy knights. At a glance, sending paper versus solid steel would have seemed suicidal, but it was utterly unfazed when the knights collided into it. The spells bound to it granted Shiki-Ouji immunity from both melee and ranged attacks, as well as Curse magic. Granted, it was weak to nuclear spells, but it was still an exceptional Persona, and Lelouch was seriously considering using it to replace Ippon-Datara as his Persona of choice to start battles against unknown Shadows with. Some time in Lockdown later with Shi and Tsu might even eliminate its weakness, and furthermore, it was a Persona of the Chariot Arcana, so it had been strengthened greatly by his bond with Kallen.

The enemy knights shook their heads, trying to make sense of how their attack had failed, when Milly stepped in. "Hey, boys!" she waved with a mischievous smile. "Marin Karin!" In a moment, one of the knights was head over heels for her, and promptly had his head blown up by a well-placed psychokinetic spell from Leila.

"Heh. Gets them every time!" Arthur snickered as he darted unnoticed past the other knight and summoned Master Cat, which thrust its rapier into the side of its steed. The knight collapsed to the ground, and was promptly seized by Guren Jigoku, which wasted no time in blasting it with radiation at point blank rank.

"Bishops! Destroy these heretics!"

Alciel's dark bishops slid forward diagonally, supported on their flanks by the pawns that had finally managed to rise to their feet, lobbing volleys of curses at the Black Knights. Shiki-Ouji darted forward, intercepting the incoming spells, while the other Black Knights finished off the pawns.

If they had not been locked in battle, Lelouch would have shook his head. Alciel was using his pieces recklessly. Perhaps their foe could have used his bishops to heal his pieces, just as Leila could for the Black Knights, but with the pawns destroyed, the bishops were exposed, and fell quickly in turn.

"Rook, castle!" Alciel ordered, finally realizing how badly the battle was turning against him in spite of his once-superior numbers. A rook, made of stone and towering over the Black Knights slid over, establishing a defensive position next to Alciel. The other rook advanced, raining projectiles down on them.

"Ugh…" Kallen grimaced as she blasted the side of the attacking rook with Guren Jigoku, doing some damage but leaving it still standing. "This one is pretty tough." The other Black Knights were having a similarly difficult time breaching its stone walls, and were falling back to defensive positions themselves.

"Give me a moment, Zero!" Leila called. "I'll analyze its defenses and try to pinpoint a weakness."

But Lelouch was already reaching mask. Call it intuition, but he had a feeling he knew exactly what would work against the rooks.

"Shiisaa!" He called. "Zio!"

A bolt of lightning struck the rook on its ramparts, blasting stone loose. The rook rocked precariously side to side, and then tipped over, breaking apart on impact with the ground.

"How did you…" Leila began.

"The Tower, in the upright position," Lelouch smirked.

The surviving rook cast some sort of barrier on Alciel, but it too fell to Shiisaa's lightning, leaving Alciel alone, save for his queen.

"I'll handle this, myself," Alciel snarled, gnashing his teeth menacingly as he moved toward the Black Knights.

A volley of spells struck Alciel: fire, ice, wind, lightning, nuclear, and psychokinetic. But the Shadow was not harmed by any of them.

"He's immune to most magic," Lelouch frowned. "Which means that barrier is likely protecting him against physical attacks. Bishop, can you confirm that?"

"Give me a moment, Zero."

"You don't have a moment," Alciel laughed, and rushed forward, snapping his jaws like a shark. Leila escaped being devoured, but Alciel's teeth tore off part of her dress.

"Those are some tasty legs you've got there," Alciel leered, eyeing Leila. "I'll be sure to enjoy them."

"Get away from her, you creep!" Kallen shouted, Guren Jigoku flying toward Alciel.

"Queen, wait!" Lelouch called. "We don't know what-"

Guren Jigoku slammed into Alciel, and was promptly thrown back by the shimmering barrier around him, which then shattered.

"Ow!" Kallen groaned, wincing in pain.

So that was what the barrier did. It reflected the force of physical strikes back on the attacker. At least it seemed to be gone now. Euphemia certainly didn't need him to tell her to exploit her opening, and lobbed a grenade into Alciel's maw, which was opened with laughter.

"Ugh!" Alciel's eyes went wide as the bomb exploded inside of him, but unlike the Gluttonous Pig, he was too strong to be finished off so easily. He was however stunned for several moments, giving Lelouch the perfect opportunity to order an all-out attack.

Bloody all over, it was only through sheer tenacity that Alciel was able to keep the Black Knights from seizing his treasure during the confusion of the all-out attack.

"You'll pay for that!" Alciel shouted. He turned to his queen. "Over here!"

The queen advanced, only for Alciel to devour his own ally whole, healing his injuries in the process.

"He really can only think of his hunger…: Leila murmured.

"I'm still famished…." Alciel groaned. "Feel my hunger!" He let out a scream, and suddenly several of the Black Knights felt very strange.

"I-I'm so… hungry…" Euphemia muttered, clutching her stomach. "Like I haven't eaten in days… Is this what those poor people feel like…"

"Mmm…. Need Sushi…" moaned Arthur.

"Where's my energy?" groaned Kallen. "I can barely move."

"The strong devour and consume the weak!" Alciel declared. He opened his mouth wide, and began drawing reddish energy that looked all too much like blood from the Black Knights. Lelouch, Milly, and Leila felt little effect upon themselves, but large orbs of energy were ripped from Euphemia, Arthur, and Kallen.

"I feel faint…" Euphemia whispered, struggling to keep her balance. She looked very pale, as did the other starving Black Knights.

"Jeanne d'Arc! Media!" Lelia cried, hurriedly showering healing energy on them.

It was very much like what they had seen in the shantytown around the Palace. Alciel was an opportunist, preferring to vampirize the weak, who had little chance of fighting of his hunger.

Fortunately, they wouldn't have to fight much longer.

"Everyone, fire!"

The hunger that Alciel had inflicted upon the Black Knights might have made them sluggish and robbed them of much of their strength, but bullets didn't care about hunger, and Alciel was an enormous target.

Lelouch and Leila fired their pistols, Milly her light machine gun, Kallen her assault rifle, and Euphemia her gun sword. The recoil actually knocked Kallen off her feet, weak as she still was, but enough of her bullets still hit their mark. Alciel slumped down, and the Black Knights launched their second all-out attack. This time, they managed to knock the crown off Alciel's head. Without his Treasure, Alciel's strength waned, his attacks becoming ineffectual, and he was easy prey for a third all-out attack.

Alciel slumped down and the darkness he had gathered within himself dispersed, leaving the Black King's Shadow broken on the floor. The feeling of hunger that some of the Black Knights were suffering from dissipated as well.

"Ugh… it seems that I'm the prey today…" the Black King's Shadow groaned. "How could I be beaten by such weaklings?"

"Yes, individually we are weak," Leila replied.

"But together the Black Knights stand in judgment of this world," Lelouch continued.

"That's right…" Euphemia nodded. "I couldn't do anything to improve the situation on my own. It was only when I joined them that I actually made a difference."

"If it weren't for Zero, I'd probably be dead somewhere in a twisted castle somewhere," Kallen murmured.

"Likewise," Arthur added.

"Everyone here is a precious friend," Milly concluded. "We draw our strength from each other."

"Don't be absurd!" the Black King's Shadow laughed weakly. "The world doesn't work that way! Besides, this is my world!"

"Face it, Mr. King," Lelouch sneered. "You've been devoured yet again. Besides, by your own philosophy, do losers have any rights?"

"No…" he hung his head down. "What do you want from me?"

"You'll cease blackmailing people at once, and you'll halt any shipments of Refrain. After that's done, you'll publicly confess to your crimes and turn yourself and your remaining associates in."

"How do I know I won't be killed like Prince Clovis if I do what you say?"

"You don't," Lelouch admitted. "But you don't have a choice, do you now?" He cocked his gun threateningly.

"You win…" the Black King's Shadow sighed. "But know this; if you think that I'm the worst monster in this world, you haven't seen anything yet."

The Black King's Shadow vanished into light.

At once, the resort began shaking violently.

"What's going on?" Euphemia asked, fear in her eyes.

"I guess Zero forgot to mention this part to you," Arthur explained. "A Palace always starts collapsing immediately after its Treasure is removed. We'll have to run. We don't want to be inside this place when it implodes."

They made it out of the penthouse and to the casino level, when they noticed that something was very wrong.

The entire structure was pitching to a side.

"The base must have been compromised…" Leila gasped.

"There's no way we can survive a fall from this height!" Milly shouted in panic.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Diamond?" Lelouch asked.

"What would that be, Zero?"

"Your Persona can fly. So can Kallen's, as can some of mine."

"Not that far! If we could do that, we would have just flown up the tower in the first place."

"Then we'll wait until we're closer to the ground.'

"You can't be serious!" She protested.

"It's the only way to survive this. Get close to the windows, and hold on tight."

Loose objects careened past them and crashed through the windows as the resort continued its fatal tilt. Before long, it would be in free fall.

There was a feeling of weightlessness the resort level plummeted toward the ground below. The Black Knights were buffeted by wind, but they continued to hold on to anything solid for dear life, awaiting Lelouch's signal.

"Now!" He shouted, hoping that his friends could hear him over the din.

"Persona!" Three voices cried in unison.

Medea, Guren Jigoku, and Archangel all appeared, each grabbing their summoner and another Black Knight before swooping down out the broken window and to the side before they could be crushed by the tower bearing down on them.

There was an enormous crash, and a large cloud of sand and debris was kicked up by the impact of the tower onto the beach below, threatening to overtake them.

"Time to return to the real world!"

The world twisted around them, and the Black Knights left behind the Resort of Gluttony as it entered its final death throes, bringing the nightmare it represented to an end.

xXx

"We made it, right?" Euphemia asked.

Slowly, Lelouch stirred next to her, relieved to see that his half sister and the other Black Knights were okay.

"Yes," he told her. He didn't want to admit how close it had actually been. Looking down, he saw the true form of the Black King's Treasure. It was a chess set of exquisite craftsmanship.

"Another victory for the Black Knights!" Milly grinned.

"Quiet," Kallen hissed. "Someone will hear you."

"Relax, Kallen. Who would be here right now anyway?"

xXx

Shirley Fenette froze in her tracks, blinking her eyes and pinching herself to make sure she wasn't having a nightmare.

It hurt, so she knew she was awake, but that didn't make the scene before her eyes any less of a nightmare. If anything, knowing that this was real made it worse.

She had decided to go looking for Lulu to apologize to him for her actions the other day, and her search had led her here, to the outskirts of the settlement. She had been just about to give up and return to Ashford Academy, writing off the whole thing as a waste of effort, when the impossible happened.

Lelouch appeared out of thin air.

He wasn't alone either. He was with Kallen. And Milly… and two other beautiful girls that she didn't know. Arthur was there with them, but that hardly registered with her.

That was a shock in of itself. But then the words that Milly said ripped into her very soul.

"Another victory for the Black Knights!"

Did that mean… Milly was a Black Knight? Not only that, but Kallen… and Lulu? If so… that meant….

She couldn't believe it. That meant… that her friends on the Student Council had been the ones who murdered her father?

Shirley fell to her knees, feeling nothing but cold despair swirling around her.

Deep within Mementos, the twisted subway tunnels began rumbling as a Distortion that had slowly festered deep within it bloomed, rising to the surface and growing rapidly as it overlaid Ashford Academy in the Metaverse and formed its own world, cut off from the rest.

"There's nothing for you here…" Shirley heard a voice within herself say.

That was her own voice… but for some reason, it scared her.

"It would be better if we just died…" her own inner voice continued to whisper.

No, that voice wasn't hers! It couldn't be!

"And Lulu with us…".

She could see her doppelgänger in her mind's eye now, almost as clear as day. A mermaid princess with coppery hair like her own, but the fake's eyes glowed yellow.

"Come…" the siren whispered. "There's no need for us to suffer any longer." The voice turned mocking. "Besides… maybe our prince will come to save us, and we'll all have a happy ever after. That's what you'd like, isn't it?"

No… that wasn't true… was it?

"Reject me all you like… I'm still a part of you. Besides… you're no longer the one who's in control. Let us make one last voyage together… and trap the Black Knights with us in a watery grave."

"Huh? Shirley!" A voice cut through her spiraling thoughts, dispelling the apparition. That was Lulu's voice…

The voice of the man who had killed her father.

"Stay away from me!" she cried, turning to run as fast as she could.

xXx

"Shirley heard you," Lelouch said to Milly as the other Black Knights caught up to him, bending over and gasping for breath.

"What was she doing here?" Milly asked.

"Does it matter?" Kallen replied angrily. "That's why you don't just go blabbing about that stuff in public!"

"This is terrible…" Leila murmured.

"What's going to happen?" Euphemia asked with worry. "Was she close to you, Lelouch?"

"Too close," Arthur supplied.

"We can only hope that she doesn't talk to Rolo…" Lelouch straightened himself. "Or else we're going to have to steal her heart."

 **Days Until Shirley Turns in Lelouch: ?**

 **A/N:**

 **Following the naming schema that I have been using thus far for the major bosses, this chapter is named after the boss theme of Persona 5, "Blooming Villain", verbatim in this case (couldn't think of another word starting with V that suited the Black King, whereas Villetta and Viceroy filled in that role for the last two bosses).**

 **Alciel is a demon that does not appear in P5 at all, though it appears in Nocturne, SMT IV, and SMT: Imagine. Not only does Alciel seem quite interested in devouring the Demi-Fiend in Nocturne (tying into Gluttony), but Alciel itself might be a mistranslation for one of the Princes of Gehenna. I chose to deviate from** **Bael/Beezlebuub, which was Kaneshiro's Shadow when it was first suggested to me, because Alciel's appearance was so reminiscent of a black chess piece that I couldn't help but think of it as a perfect fit for the Black King.**

 **By now, it should be clear who the fourth palace ruler is: Shirley Fenette. A Palace Ruler doesn't have to be evil; their Cognition just needs to be twisted, and they need to embody a Deadly Sin. This has been planned since the start of the story, and those who have been making comparisons of her to Futaba on the story's TV Tropes page (which I am pleased to say has grown tremendously over the last few days) are indeed correct, in that her arc is constructed as a deliberate parallel to Futaba's Palace in P5 (though I am also planning to deliberately subvert several aspects of Futaba's Palace as well. For starters, Shirley's Palace is NOT a pyramid. What her Palace is may be fairly obvious to the attentive reader, as I have been purposefully dropping imagery for it for the last several chapters. I have also been foreshadowing another crucial aspect of Shirley's arc for some time now, but I will not say that here, so as to not spoil those who haven't put it together yet.**

 **Next up, what should be short chapter with Tanabata (and thus the meeting with Kaguya) and the Black King's confession. It would be too much mood whiplash to include Tanabata in this chapter, so that's why I chose to end this chapter where I did. Then we'll have another interlude with Cornelia, and Shirley's fourth Palace arc will begin in earnest.**


	34. Tanabata

What should have been a time of celebration for the Black Knights had become anything but that.

Fortunately, Shirley hadn't talked to Rolo yet, or any of the authorities for that matter. Whether it was because she was too terrified of what the Black Knights might do to her if she talked or if she couldn't bring herself to turn in her fellow members of the Student Council, Lelouch didn't know. However, Shirley had all but barricaded herself in her room in the girl's dormitory. According to Shirley's roommate, Sophie, Shirley had barely talked over the last few days, curling up in her bed, and it took great effort to persuade her to do anything. Sophie also reported that Shirley had been having nightmares, but thankfully Shirley hadn't said anything in her sleep that would give the Black Knights away.

Still, that was no guarantee that Shirley wouldn't reveal what she had seen in the future, and the Black Knights all agreed that they didn't want to see Shirley suffering like that. So while they were reluctant to forcibly change the heart of one so close to them, they had begun combing Mementos, searching for Shirley's Shadow within, in the hopes that they could alter her Cognition, and in doing so, maybe heal her wounds.

They searched long and hard through the sections of Mementos that were open to them, but Leila couldn't get any sort of lock on a Distortion there that might belong to Shirley.

It didn't make sense. Shirley knew that they were Black Knights, and judging from the panic with which she had run from them, she expected them to come after her. That should have been sufficient to function like a calling card and make the path to her Distortion clear. But they kept uselessly going around in circles. Eventually, the investigation had to be called off, as Leila sensed the The Reaper drawing near, prompting the Black Knights to make a hasty retreat.

xXx

Igor was infuriatingly reticent on the matter. "Can't you see everything from here?" Lelouch had angrily demanded. "Yet you just sit here and do nothing while-"

"You presume to make demands of me, Trickster?" Igor boomed, his voice suddenly terrible and echoing throughout the confines of the prison, causing Shi to cry and curl herself into a ball, covering her face in terror as if it would shield her from his wrath, even if it was not directed at her. "The Trickster you may be, but you remain an inmate in my Velvet Room! Know your place!"

Lelouch scowled. He had heard someone else talk down to him like that before. In that moment, Igor sounded like his father, Emperor Charles zi Britannia, the same man who had used him and Nunnally as political pawns.

He had never fully trusted Igor. But now he was certain that Igor was absolutely not to be trusted. Igor had claimed that his goal was overseeing the rehabilitation of the Trickster and averting Ragnarok, but as always he was vague as to what that actually entailed, and Lelouch wasn't so naive to think that Igor didn't have ulterior motives. The Master of the Velvet Room saw him as merely a pawn in a much grander scheme. That Shi and Tsu expressed such fear of and distaste for Igor only gave him more cause to doubt Igor's supposed benevolence.

Igor's bloodshot eyes glared into his own, as if daring him to speak out in protest. Lelouch had done that once before a tyrant, over seven years ago. It had cost him dearly then, and here in Igor's own realm, punishment for further defiance would surely be immediate and merciless. No doubt Igor fancied himself some sort of god here, meting out judgment upon any mortal who dared to defy him. He could feel it now, barely masked killing intent emanating from his alleged guide.

A jailor was all Igor had ever been.

But Igor's expression returned to its usual demented grin, and when he next spoke, his voice affected the manner of a stern teacher who had just disciplined a promising but erring pupil.

"Do you not see, Trickster?" Igor asked. "If you are simply given the answers, that would rob you of the opportunity to further your rehabilitation. There much that you still do not understand, Trickster. You would do well not to show such impertinence in the future. But you do not fail to impress me with your growth. So permit me to bestow another boon upon you." Igor gestured, and Lelouch once again felt the sea within his soul expand to uncharted horizons. "You should now be able to hold up to ten Personas within yourself."

Lelouch saw all too clearly now. Igor was a deceiver, and was playing him for a fool, but the mask that the bizarre old man wore cracked at times, letting his true colors through. Two could play that game. Let Igor think that his Trickster really was a fool. Lelouch could bide his time, keeping his head down, as he had for so long. But one day, before this was all over, he would use the powers that Igor had granted him to overthrow his hated father…. and the Master of the Velvet Room.

"Forgive my arrogance," Lelouch replied, trying to contain his grin. "As always, I am indebted to you."

He would teach Igor not to underestimate the limitless power of the Wild Card.

xXx

"Master Lelouch?"

Lelouch stirred in his bed. That was Sayoko. He hoped that it was important. He had too many things to think about lately to deal with frivolities such as the latest fetishes his maid thought he was exploring. Not only had spent many evenings fruitlessly combing Mementos for Shirley's Shadow, but they would be taking their final exams before the summer break soon. Normally, he would have simply blown off studying, let alone seriously applying himself on the tests, but he sensed that he would lose some standing in the eyes of certain confidants of his, such as Leila and Nina, if he were to do poorly, as they both highly valued intelligence. So he had stayed up late, actually doing his best to review the material, rather than simply relying on anticipating the questions his teachers would ask, as he usually did. But as a result of all of that, he was exhausted.

"What is it, Sayoko?" he asked wearily.

"Your friend, Master Suzaku Kururugi," Sayoko replied. "He's here to visit you and Mistress Nunnally. He wants to know if the two of you wish to join him for the Tanabata festivities.

Of course. It was July 7th, the traditional starting date of the Japanese star festival, celebrating the reunion of Orihime and her lover Hikoboshi, better known to Britannians as the stars Vega and Altair. Britannia had done its best to stamp out Japan's culture, even to the point of stripping the islands of their name and replacing it with the designation of Area 11, but many ordinary Japanese people still celebrated Tanabata when they could, a small act of rebellion against Britannia's tyranny.

"What are you going to tell her, Inmate?" Tsu asked softly, stretching out from under his bedsheets. As unwelcome as Tsu's unannounced intrusions had been, Lelouch now permitted her to sleep in his bed without complaint whenever she showed up. Of course, he hadn't told her that it was because he had heard her talking in her sleep. Tsu had far too much pride to admit to such a weakness, and he wouldn't put it past her to devise a particularly painful or humiliating punishment for him if he made her feel insecure. Besides, he needed Tsu on his side if he was ever going to overthrow Igor when the time was right.

"Quiet," he whispered. The last thing he needed was Tsu giving more fuel to Sayoko's delusions. He trusted his maid with the knowledge that he was the leader of the Black Knights, but he wasn't prepared to explain the Velvet Room, Personas, and everything else to her.

As to the question at hand, it felt wrong for him to head out and have a good time while Shirley was still suffering. But at the same time, he knew that Nunnally would be sorely disappointed if he turned away Suazku or didn't attend the festivities with them.

He couldn't make Nunnally sad. Besides, it was a Sunday, so they had they day off school.

"Tell Suzaku I'll be there in a few minutes," he said through the door to Sayoko.

"As you wish, Master Lelouch," his maid dutifully replied. "I shall get Mistress Nunnally ready to join you." They heard Sayoko turn and walk away.

"When will you take me out somewhere?" Tsu asked as Lelouch got out of bed. "You said I had cut myself off from the world, didn't you? But you've never offered to escort me from your room. That's not very gentlemanly of you, Inmate. Are you embarrassed by our relationship?"

"I already have enough misunderstandings about my love life. I don't need any more of them." Kallen for one certainly wouldn't be happy to know that another girl was in the habit of sharing his bed, even if it had been strictly platonic, to say nothing of how Shirley would have reacted Of course, Tsu wasn't human, but ever since she had chosen to manifest herself in the world, she looked, sounded, smelled, and felt exactly like one.

He shook his head. That sounded wrong even thinking about it. Incubus would have said that…

No! He wasn't going there.

"Love only ends in pain. You've seen that for your friend. Her name was Shirley, right? Even for that other girl in your life, no matter how much effort you put into the relationship, when one of you eventually dies, only grief and hopeless longing for a happier time will remain. But our relationship is contractual. We get nothing more and nothing less out of it than is required."

"You don't seriously believe that, do you?" He asked, facing away from her as he pulled a black haori over his shoulders. Changing in front of her had been awkward at first, but he couldn't get rid of her, so he had been forced to adapt. As for the outfit itself, Britannia was nothing if not hypocritical. While most Japanese were forced to bury their heritage, Britannians could freely choose to don its trappings if they so desired, whether for the novelty or aesthetics of it or, much more rarely, a genuine appreciation for Japanese culture. This privilege technically extended to Honorary Britannians as well, though most were not well enough off to afford traditional Japanese attire anymore, both from a decrease in their standard of living following the invasion and a sharp increase in the price, as there were now very few suppliers of such clothing. Of course, to be an overt xenophile was to attract the scorn and suspicion of one's more xenophobic Britannian neighbors, and certain factions in Area 11, such as the now defunct Purists, had been pushing to outlaw the wearing of Japanese clothing by Britannians, but it had been the policy of Clovis' administration to not involve itself in such matters unless there was clear seditious sentiment behind it, a policy that had thus far been continued under Viceroy Cornelia's regime. She had far more important things to concern herself with.

"What do you mean?" Tsu asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't believe cohabitation was originally a clause in the contract between us as accomplices in the Velvet Room. And don't say you're guarding the door for me; that's just an excuse for you to be here."

"That tongue of yours is going to get you into trouble one day, Inmate," Tsu replied, not answering his question. "Didn't I tell you before that you don't want to see our Master when he is angry? It's fortunate that you didn't challenge him more directly earlier. He has no tolerance for being questioned like that, and you have had only the smallest glimpse of his power."

"I noticed." Lelouch finished dressing himself, fastening a hakama around his waist, and turned to Tsu. "Keep yourself out of trouble while I'm gone."

"You forget who you're talking to, Inmate."

xXx

"You took a while getting ready, Lelouch," Suzaku said as he joined them outside. Nunnally was already there with Suzaku. Both his friend and his little sister were dressed in white yukatas, but Suzaku's was mostly plain, while Nunnally's was decorated with butterfly patterns in pastel pinks, violets, and greens, and a red and yellow obi, the traditional sash used with kimonos, was tied around her waist. Not only was Nunnally's outfit more elaborate than either his or Suzaku's, but Sayoko had somehow found the time to braid pink flowers into his little sister's hair.

"You were already dressed, and Sayoko's efficiency is incredible," Lelouch shrugged. "How am I supposed to compete?"

"Where will be going?" Nunnally asked happily. "It's been so long since the three of us did something together like this."

"I was thinking the Nezu Shrine, near Ueno Park," Suzaku replied.

Lelouch nodded. The Nezu Shrine was located beyond the raised structure of the Tokyo Settlement, but it wasn't so far out to be properly part of the ghettos either. Both it and Ueno benefitted from the patronage of the NAC, a conglomerate of leading Japanese magnates who ran oversaw much of Area 11's industries, most notably the sakuradite mining operations at Mount Fuji, on the behalf of their Britannian overlords, under the reasoning that local management would be more efficient than direct Britannian control. The NAC was in many circles synonymous with the Six Houses of Kyoto, and while outwardly they were the model of collaboration with the Empire, there were rumors that they were secretly funding Japanese resistance groups. But what was undeniable was that they had used their considerable financial and political clout to repair and preserve the shrine, historically one of Tokyo's most important and beautiful, when so many others had been torn down during the construction of the Settlement or bombed during the war and left to fall into further disrepair. Of course, under the Britannian regime, access to the shrine was usually restricted to Britannian citizens and their Honorary counterparts, so it had been reduced to a tourist attraction.

They took the monorail to the outskirts of the settlement, arriving in Ueno, and took the opportunity to stroll through the park before making their way to Nezu Shrine. It truly was remarkable that Ueno Park had been as well preserved as it had, especially considering its significance as Japan's first public park. It was out of season to see the cherry blossoms, but Shinobazu Pond was covered with lotus flowers, and there were still many museums around the park, though many of the Japanese cultural artifacts within them had been looted during the war, replaced with works showcasing the late Prince Clovis' artistic skills, or were for the sole enjoyment of the Britannian conquerors now. The paths in the park were lined with vendors selling food to Britannians enjoying a stroll on a beautiful summer day, but as they kept walking, Lelouch couldn't help but notice something strange.

There were more Japanese people in the park than usual, and some of them clearly weren't Honorary Britannians. It began as a trickle, but soon more and more were streaming into the park, seemingly emboldened by the lack of reprisals from Britannian authorities.

The trend only continued when they reached the Nezu Shrine, the vermillion torii gates decorated in brightly colored strips of paper hanging from bamboo branches, a wish written in Japanese on each one. They were tanzaku, one of the most visible symbols of Tanabata. To see so many in one place could hardly be construed as anything but an open challenge to Britannia. Indeed, while many of the tanzaku had personal wishes for family and friends, Lelouch saw that quite a number wished for freedom.

"Everyone sounds like they're having so much fun," Nunnally smiled.

"They even have the tanzaku this year," Lelouch told her.

"Oh, I wish I could see them!"

As they proceeded, the grounds of the shrine were packed with people, mostly Japanese, though there were a number of increasingly bewildered Britannians among them. It would be easy to get lost among the crowds…

"Lelouch!" a voice called out.

Emerging from the crowd, Lelouch saw Kallen, dressed in a yellow yukata with floral patterns and a red obi that matched her hair. She was flanked by Leila Breisgau, who was wearing a light blue yukata with a pink obi, and none other than Princess Euphemia, dressed in a pink kimono with a white obi and a flower in her hair, holding a traditional Japanese umbrella to shade herself from the sun. Even more surprising was the man next to her, Jeremiah Gottwald, looking distinctly out of place in a simple orange yukata.

"Why didn't you tell us you were coming, Lelouch?" Kallen said crossly, putting her hands on her hips. "I tried calling you last night to invite you, but you didn't pick up!"

Had he simply been so focused on studying or tired last night that he hadn't heard his phone? He hadn't checked it upon waking, so it was possible, embarrassing as that was to admit to himself.

Nunnally tilted her head up, though her eyes remained closed. "Is that you, Kallen?" Frowning, she turned to Lelouch. "You could have gone with your girlfriend, brother. Suzaku and I could have gone together."

"Hello, Nunnally," Euphemia said sweetly, bending down to hold her half-sister's hand.

Nunnally let out a small gasp. "Euphy?" She asked, as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, I'm here, Nunnally," Euphemia smiled gently.

Suzaku turned to Lelouch in surprise, and for a moment his tone almost seemed accusatory. "She looks like she's not surprised to see you. When did you run into Euph- I mean, Princess Euphemia…"

Euphemia looked up, frowning slightly. "Suzaku, what did I tell you before? You don't have to be so formal around me. We just ran into each other one day in the Settlement. That's all. Don't worry. Their secret is safe with me."

"You were sneaking out again," Suzaku sighed. "Wait…" his gaze turned to Kallen and Leila. "They already know too?"

"I am his girlfriend," Kallen replied, as casually as she could. "He told me about it."

"I'm a friend of theirs," Leila added, skirting the truth effortlessly. "Our families knew each other. Besides," she said, glancing at Lelouch, "it doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

Lelouch inwardly thanked Kallen and Leila's acting skills. That could have been disastrous.

"You needn't worry about the Princess, young Kururugi," Jeremiah said. "She asked me to accompany her, and no harm shall befall her while I am at her side. She thought that a larger escort might attract undue attention."

That did much to explain how Euphemia was able to keep sneaking away from the Government Bureau to join the Black Knights in the Metaverse. She would use meetings with Leila or Kallen, both from influential families in their own right, as a pretext, and Jeremiah, as an agent loyal to the Black Knights, would provide further assistance and corroborate whatever alibi she chose to use.

"I assume this is your doing?" Lelouch asked Euphemia.

She nodded. "I am the Sub-Viceroy. Cornelia left me in charge of domestic affairs. I used the power vested in me to declare the parks and shrines open to all today." Her expression turned sheepish. "I didn't tell Cornelia though… She's not going to be happy when she finds out."

"All the more reason to enjoy ourselves while we can then," Lelouch concluded. He wouldn't be surprised if Cornelia was already moving to overrule Euphemia's declaration, though he doubted that she would resort to violence if there was any chance that her beloved sister would be caught up in it. Besides, they still had to worry about Shirley, and they would be back in Mementos as soon as Tanabata was over.

"Right," Kallen said, walking over to Lelouch and taking his arm. "If you'll excuse us."

"Have fun, brother!" Nunnally called out.

"It's been a while… since it was just the two of us…" Kallen said as they walked through the crowds.

"Yes…" Lelouch nodded. "Did you hang a tanzaku?"

She nodded in turn.

"For your mother?"

"And for my brother's soul." She shook her head. "Seeing everyone having fun like this… it reminds me of how things used to be…. It's good to let off steam like this every once in a while. But it won't last."

"Of course. Our greatest challenges are still to come." He paused. "By the way, Kallen… that yukata really suits you."

Kallen flushed. "Well…. Um… I don't get many chances to wear one, so I wanted to…"

Lelouch let out a chuckle. As much as their relationship had grown, some things about Kallen wouldn't change.

"Are you making fun of me, Lelouch?"

"Not at all. I really do mean it, Kallen." She was his Queen, more beautiful than the lotus flower, but beneath that mask she wielded the fury of the Crimson Hell itself against their foes.

He continued to walk with Kallen, enjoying the sights of the Shrine with her. It had many lush gardens, and Kallen told him of a time when she had visited the Shrine with her mother and her brother, when its famed azaleas were in bloom. But eventually, they were interrupted by the sound of Kallen's stomach growling. Come to think of it, he hadn't eaten anything either.

"Wait here," he told her. "I'll see if I can get something from one of the vendors." It was the gentlemanly thing to do.

"See if they have any takoyaki," Kallen called.

Lelouch made his way through the crowds. He had almost reached the plaza in front of the shrine's main building, where there would certainly be several vendors, when something crashed into him from a side.

"Sorry!" A youthful, bubbly female voice said in Japanese. "I was in such a hurry I-"

Lelouch turned and reached down to help the girl who had so carelessly run into him. She appeared to be about Nunnally's age, with long black hair, tied into twintails, and large green eyes. The red and white of her outfit reminded him of a miko, a Japanese shrine maiden, but her skirt was cut far too low for a proper priestess, and after a moment he noticed that she wore a golden circlet on her head. She had to be from a high-ranking family, which meant that…

The girl's green eyes locked on his violet ones and went wide.

"Are you the Oni?" She whispered.

"The Oni?" What was she talking about?

"I've seen you before…" she murmured in wonderment. "Seven years ago… At the Kururugi Shrine…"

Wait… he remembered now… a chance encounter with a spoiled, pampered princess in the woods outside of the shrine, when he had been gathering flowers for Nunnally…. The brat had gotten lost, interrupted him, and mistaken him for an Oni, even asking if he was going to eat her. Annoyed with her, he had decided to go along with her delusion to try and frighten her, before eventually leaving her in disgust. He had scarcely thought of it since… But that meant… this girl was…

"You're L-"

"Quiet," he hissed at her. "Don't make me regret not eating you when I had the chance, Kaguya Sumeragi."

"You are the Oni!" She said, her eyes lighting up. "I never thought that we'd meet again," she said beaming. "You know, I never got a chance to thank you."

"What would you have to thank me for?"

"You were pretty scary back then, but you got me to think…. When I tried to boss you around, you said that the rules of the human world didn't apply to an Oni, and that throwing my family's name around meant nothing to you, even as I could only do what I was told. You made me look at everything in a new way."

So she had learned some humility. That at least explained why she was thanking him, but other questions remained unanswered. "Why were you running like that anyway?"

Kaguya pouted. "Kirihara and the others still treat me like I'm a child!"

"You are a child," he told her.

"I wanted to enjoy the festival on my own, not to be surrounded by bodyguards!"

Lelouch could relate to that at least. Euphemia had much the same frustration.

"What do you want?" He asked her.

"Will the Oni take me away this time?" She asked hopefully.

Lelouch frowned. He had to get back to Kallen soon. But it was hard to refuse Kaguya when she was asking so earnestly, and as the heiress to one of the Six Houses of Kyoto, she could prove a powerful ally. Besides, he couldn't afford to have her as an enemy. She hadn't realized it during their first encounter in the woods, but she had made clear that in the years since she had learned exactly who had been kept as a hostage at the Kururugi Shrine.

"Just for a little while," he told her. "Don't make me regret this."

"How could I? Kaguya is a goddess of victory!"

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Sun Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

Kaguya joined him in the line for takoyaki, and her bought her some too. She took one of the fried octopus dumplings and scoffed it in a very unladylike manner. But over the crowd, Lelouch could see a number of suited Japanese men drawing nearer. They were clearly Kaguya's bodyguards, looking for her.

Kaguya noticed them too. "I guess the Oni has to let me go now. But I come here from time to time. I hope I'll see you again soon!"

She departed, rejoining her bodyguards, allowing Lelouch to make his way back to Kallen.

"What took you so long?" She asked.

"I ran into someone, and there was a bit of a line." He handed her the takoyaki. "Enjoy."

"Mmm…" Kallen murmured contentedly. "Just like they used to make them."

They barely had time to enjoy their meal together when suddenly a voice boomed out, as if from a bullhorn.

"Attention Elevens! By order of Viceroy Cornelia, declaration this morning granting access to this shrine has been revoked! Everyone except authorized personnel is to vacate the premises immediately! Anyone remaining on the grounds after thirty minutes will be considered to be participating in an unlawful riot, and shall be subject to arrest and the use of force!"

"It's as I thought. Cornelia knows that Euphemia is here," Lelouch grimaced. "Otherwise she would have just sent in troops to break up the festivities and round up as many Japanese people as possible instead of giving everyone a chance to disperse peacefully first."

"This is why I hate Britannians… like her," Kallen scowled, correcting herself after a moment.

"Cornelia will fall in time, as will the rest of Britannia," Lelouch assured her.

Kallen sighed. "That day can't come soon enough."

"We should be going then," Lelouch told her. "We don't want to still be here when Cornelia closes her noose around the shrine."

xXx

"Earlier today, Viceroy Cornelia successfully quelled riots in Ueno and Bunkyo. In a show of clemency, most of the Elevens present were allowed to leave peacefully, when the unlawful nature of their activities were made clear, but those who continued to disturb the peace were taken into custody," the reporter on the news read from a clearly government-prepared statement.

Suddenly, the scene on the television changed. "We interrupt this story to bring you breaking news. Lord King, a major businessman here in Area 11, has just publicly confessed that he is the infamous mobster known as the Black King. We bring you to the outskirts of the Settlement, where he was overseeing a major commercial development, and where he has convened a press conference so that he might answer questions about his alleged crimes."

Blake King appeared on the television screen, his head hung in shame. It looked like he hadn't slept well in days.

"Mr. King…" is it true that in addition to your legitimate businesses, you ran major racketeering operations?"

"Yes," he replied sullenly.

"And these rackets targeted Britannians as well as Elevens?"

"That's also correct."

"You also engaged in widespread human and drug trafficking."

"Yes. I've ruined so many lives!" Blake King began sobbing. "I wish that there was something I could do to make up for the harm that I've done! Turning myself in is the only way in which I can atone!"

"Do you intend to cooperate fully with the authorities?"

"Yes. I've already sent the Viceroy detailed reports of my finances, the deeds for my properties, and a list of my associates. There should be no issue with establishing my guilt."

"If I may ask, Lord King, what brought about this sudden change of heart?"

"It was the Black Knights. I received a calling card from them, and they stole my rotten heart!"

"The same Black Knights who killed Prince Clovis?"

Blake King shook his head. "I don't think it was them. They're too foolishly idealistic for that."

"Does this mean you've seen the Black Knights?"

"No." He shook his head again. "It's just a feeling I had. Will someone please arrest me already?"

Lelouch turned off the broadcast. It was done. Looking out his windows, he could see a glorious full moon, and illegal fireworks being launched over the ghettos. The downfall of the Black King was a perfect way to conclude Tanabata for the Japanese people, who had long suffered under him, and many ordinary Britannians would also be sleeping more soundly tonight without the threat of protection rackets and loan sharks looming over them.

Yet Shirley, and their inability to locate her Shadow in Mementos was still troubling Lelouch. Perhaps her Shadow resided deeper within Mementos, and they would be able to reach it as the notoriety of the Black Knights grew in the public's consciousness. But… there was another possibility that was gnawing away at him. Actually, it had been for some time, but he hadn't wanted to acknowledge it. But perhaps it was time to rule it out once and for all.

He opened up the Metaverse Nagivator on his phone.

"Search," he instructed. "Shirley Fenette. Ashford Academy." He paused, recalling his earlier conversation with her. There was an awful feeling of dread as he recited the last set of keywords.

"Sinking Ship."

There was a pulse and the Metaverse Nagivator hummed.

"Destination acquired. Sinking Ship of Lust. Commence Navigation?"

No… it couldn't be! Lelouch furiously double-checked the Navigator, but there the keywords were, mocking him.

How could Shirley have a Palace?

He shook his head. Given that he had guessed the keywords on the first try, he had known all along.

The others were not going to like this.

 **Days Until Shirley Turns in Lelouch: ?**

xXx

"The last members of the original Code-R research team have been eliminated," a distorted voice said over the private channel. "In other news, my infiltration has been successful, and observation of my new targets proceeds as planned. I also confirm the formation of a new Palace in the Metaverse."

"Leave it be," replied an old man with a cascade of silvery hair that fell down the length of his body. "It will serve to draw out our enemies."

"My Lord, what of the man known as the Black King? Shouldn't we have eliminated him as well? What if he tells the Viceroy about Code-R and Clovis' Cognitive Psience research?"

"There was no need. Such a man cares only about his own profit and is careful not to ask too many questions. If he did know anything, we would have already been aware of it by now."

"Reasoned as always, Director."

"Charles is fond of the children of Marianne. He believes that their powers can still be turned to our purposes. Lelouch in particular is the one upon whom he places his hopes to bring about Ragnarok should all else fail. But I worry that Charles has grown sentimental. Lelouch and his sister must not be allowed to interfere with our plans. The childish games of the Black Knights as of yet remain inconsequential, and serve to hone the power that Charles seeks to exploit. We will continue to watch them for now. But if they threaten Ragnarok in the least, you are to eliminate them at once."

"They are no match for me, my Lord."

"Very well. You are, after all, my Black Mask."

 **A/N:**

 **I ended up doing quite a bit of research on this chapter to estimate the outer boundaries of the Tokyo Settlement relative to Tokyo in the real world, in and details on Tanabata and the Nezu Shrine as well. It also really was a Sunday on July 7th in 1963 in our world (the equivalent to 2017 a.t.b. in the story), as well as a full moon over Tokyo.**

 **The incident in which Lelouch and Kaguya first met, where Kaguya mistook Lelouch for an Oni, is based on one of the audio dramas. Thanks to the reviewer who pointed it out to me in a PM, and also to my semi-official beta reader.**

 **The third arc now officially comes to an end. Next stop, the Interrogation, Part 5, and then to exploring Shirley's Palace, the Sinking Ship of Lust!**


	35. Interlude - Interrogation, Part 5

"The Black King tried to blackmail Euphy?" Cornelia raged. "The swine! I should have had him sent to the firing squad! Prison is too good for him!"

It took several moments for Cornelia to calm herself enough to resume the interrogation. "And Euphy was in contact with you, but she never told me that you were alive." She glared at Lelouch. "Am I to assume that she was a Black Knight as well?"

Lelouch remained silent.

'It's true, isn't it? Why, Euphy?" Cornelia cried. "She's always had a rebellious streak… Whether it was sneaking out or that stunt she pulled on Tanabata… She was always fond of you too. But for her to do this…. Just because she's my sister doesn't mean that…"

"You'd really condemn Euphy if she was involved with us?" Lelouch asked. "Hypothetically speaking, of course. While we're still dealing in hypotheticals, do you think Euphy would willingly join the Black Knights if she thought they murdered her half-brother? Was she ever the sort of person who would resort to violence if there was another way?"

"I'm not the one being interrogated, in case you had forgotten, Zero!" Cornelia snapped.

Lelouch fell silent, but allowed himself a small smirk. Cornelia always had a weak spot for Euphy. It was a weakness in her defenses, and it gave him an opening to work with, but he knew that he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Let's return to the matter at hand," Cornelia continued, glaring at him. "After you defeated the Black King, the Black Knights enjoyed a resurgence of popularity. We also have reason to believe that you continued your liaisons with Kaguya Sumeragi, and came into contact with this man." She took out a photo of a bald Japanese man, about seventy, with slightly tanned skin and wearing traditional black robes. "Taizo Kirihara. You knew him from your time at the Kururugi Shrine, didn't you?"

Lelouch nodded. "I knew Kirihara from before the war, yes." There was no point denying something that Cornelia had doubtlessly already checked. Kirihara had wielded great political influence back in the days of the Kururugi Administration, and had frequented the Kururugi Shrine to meet with the Prime Minister and observe his charges. These days, Kirihara was one of the leaders of the Six Houses of Kyoto. The Japanese people called him "Kirihara the Traitor" for collaborating with Britannia. But…

"Kirihara and the other heads of the Six Houses have been a thorn in my side since I arrived in Area 11," Cornelia scowled. "They make a good show of compliance, but they've been working to undermine me and support resistance groups, including the Black Knights, this entire time, I know it!"

She wasn't wrong, but there was no need to confirm that for her.

"You're not helping Kirihara, Sumeragi, or any of the others by remaining silent. It would be easy for me to order them to be executed for treason…. the same sentence you could easily face if you don't cooperate."

"The same sentence Euphemia could face, if you're convinced of her guilt," Lelouch retorted.

"I have a duty to the Empire to bring its enemies to justice!" Cornelia declared forcefully, but Lelouch could tell that the seeds of doubt were starting to grow within her and crack her resolve. No one was more important to Cornelia than Euphemia, and if forced to choose between the Empire and Euphemia's life, he knew it wouldn't be a contest.

"Let's get back on track, shall we?" Cornelia asked, once again assuming the implacable mask of Britannia's Goddess of Victory. "Spurred on by your successes, a number of copycat groups began to emerge throughout Area 11. The vast majority of these were but pale imitations that lacked any real ability to change the hearts of their targets, as the Black Knights could, but at least two were able to copy your methodology. "One, also operating out of the Tokyo Settlement, calling itself the Irregulars, and stole the heart of a Britannian military officer by the name of Madd, though reports of this were overshadowed at the time by the confession of the Black King. Soon thereafter, a group calling itself the Glinda Knights changed its first heart, made all the higher profile because they struck in Pendragon, and their target was none other than Fifth Princess Carine ne Britannia. Do you know anything about these groups?"

What? There were other groups of Persona-users acting within the Metaverse? Of course, he knew of the Black Mask, who was causing the mental shutdowns, but how could he forget something so important as this? No, he knew the answer to that. The Refrain was still interfering with some of his recollections, even while it brought vivid clarity to others. But this revelation was particularly troubling to him, especially that of the Irregulars…. Why should their existence bother him so much?

He shook his head.

"Perhaps this will jog your memory then. There was another criminal, going by the alias of Medjed, though unlike the Irregulars and the Glinda Knights, he appears to have been working alone. Given your testimony, it appears likely that Medjed was another individual using the Metaverse, though he did not use it change hearts. Instead, he committed numerous otherwise unexplainable acts of kidnapping, murder, and blackmail. His profile rose enormously when he publicly challenged the Black Knights soon after the confession of the Black King. Could Medjed have been the Black Mask who killed Clovis and you were searching for?"

Medjed. Yes, Rolo had mentioned him, and he had challenged the Black Knights… it was all coming back to him now.

"Medjed caught us by surprise," he told Cornelia. "He was an unwelcome complication to our plans. But Medjed wasn't the Black Mask."

"Medjed made his vendetta against you clear enough, but to this day, his true name and face remain unknown. Most people believe that you and your allies tracked down and eventually killed Medjed, as he was never heard from again after that summer. What do you have to say about that, Zero?"

Lelouch shook his head. "We didn't kill him." He couldn't clearly recall the details of their encounter with Medjed just yet, but he was sure that the others would not have allowed him to murder someone in cold blood. No, Medjed had….

He felt a sudden tightness in his heart. Medjed had targeted the Black Knights in a way that struck closer to them than any previous opponent. He had…

"Medjed targeted her, didn't he?" Cornelia asked him, pulling out a photo from her file and pushing it in front of her. It was actually one that she had shown him before, but now it was front and center.

Shirley Fenette.

"At a glance, she appears to be an ordinary high school student, but the circumstances surrounding her are anything but ordinary. First, the suspicious death of her father by a mental shutdown, which was blamed on your Black Knights. Second, she was reported missing around the same time that Medjed issued his challenge to the Black Knights. And last but not least, she showed a persistent interest in you, public enemy number one. She might not have helped steal your teacher's heart, and may have been merely a victim of abuse at the time, but are you going to tell me that Shirley Fenette is truly innocent in all of this? Did Medjed simply go after her because of her connection to you, or is there a deeper reason as to why she targeted?"

Lelouch frowned. He had wanted to protect Shirley's innocence… but it had not survived the encounter with Medjed. It was painful to recall the memories, but he had to. He had wanted to protect her and keep her from getting any more involved than she already was, but in the end…

"Shirley had developed a Palace of her own. We had to steal her heart," Lelouch admitted to Cornelia.

"Wait… are telling me that your next target was your classmate and not Medjed?" Cornelia asked incredulously. "How could someone like her even have a Palace in the first place? She doesn't match the profile of those you've identified as Palace Rulers at all!"

"Shirley's head was a mess… not only had she suffered at Coach Nu's hands, but her father had been killed, and she discovered that I was a Black Knight. Her conflicting desires and grief spiraled out of control." He sighed. "Shirley was never evil, but I failed to realize how distorted her heart had become. The signs were there all along, but I ignored them until it was almost too late."

"She could have turned you in at any time," Cornelia pressed. "I suppose your changing her heart prevented her from doing so."

He sighed. "No… Shirley couldn't have turned us in. Her heart wouldn't let her. That's part of why she suffered so much and formed a Palace of her own. At first, we were trying to make sure she wouldn't talk," he admitted. "But as soon as we realized exactly what she was going through, all any of us wanted was to save her, not only from Medjed, but from herself…."

 **A/N:**

 **Just as Lelouch wasn't the only character to canonically receive a Geass power, others have awakened to the power of Persona elsewhere, broadening the scope of the rebellion against Britannia. But just who are these other Persona users? Readers of the Code Geass spinoffs may recognize these organizations, but due to altered circumstances, they are somewhat different from their canonical versions, the use of Personas simply being the most obvious change.**

 **Medjed is obviously very different from the Medjed in Persona 5, but I think those familar with Code Geass might be able to make a very good guess as to Medjed's identity in this story.**

 **I'm really pleased to see how the Tropes Page continues to develop, so thanks to everyone who's contributed to it! The characters subpage is still relatively bare, but hopefully we'll see that filled in some more soon!**

 **As I am on a work schedule, it will probably be at least 1-2 weeks until the next chapter is out. However, I will say that I have really been looking forward to writing this fourth arc in Shirley's Palace, and I hope you will all enjoy it as well.**


	36. Between Scylla and Charybdis

"Shirley has a Palace? And her Deadly Sin is lust?" Milly frowned. "Normally, I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to tease her about not being as sweet and innocent deep down as she seemed. But this is no laughing matter."

"I would have thought it would be envy…" Kallen replied. "Not that I expected her to form a Palace in the first place," she added quickly as she got several glances from the other girls. "But she never liked it when she saw me around Lelouch."

"I'm surprised it isn't tristitia…" Leila murmured. "Though I suppose that was combined with acedia…"

"Britannian, please," Milly asked.

"Tristitia is Latin for sorrow, melancholy, or despair," Leila explained. "It was once considered a Deadly Sin in its own right. Acedia came into Latin from Greek, and is most commonly rendered as sloth today, though it's more like ennui than simple laziness. The other Deadly Sins are superbia, avaritia, luxuria, invidia, gula, and ira, though sometimes vaingloria is added to them."

"Show-off," Kallen muttered under her breath.

"You learned all of that at St. Lucy's?" Milly marveled. "You really were raised Catholic, weren't you, Leila?"

"That's enough, all of you," Lelouch said irritably. "Shirley is in trouble, and here we are, wasting time!"

Euphemia placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "We'll save her, brother," she told him gently. "I can tell that she's important to you… and your friends."

He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Is everyone agreed? Our top priority is the infiltration of Shirley's Palace and stealing her heart?"

"This is a lot more serious than when we were just searching for her Shadow in Mementos," Milly said.

"We can't ignore this," Kallen frowned.

"She is a member of your student council, after all," Arthur added.

"I know." Milly nodded.

"So there are no objections?" Lelouch pressed.

There was only silence.

"Then let us begin the infiltration without a moment's delay! Commence navigation!"

Ashford Academy twisted around them, transporting them to the Sinking Ship of Lust.

xXx

The Black Knights found themselves on the deck of a wooden vessel, dressed in their thief costumes, facing the bow of the ship. The smell of brine filled their nostrils. It was nighttime in the Palace, but there was a nearly full moon in the sky, casting illumination on the vast ocean surrounded them as far as the eye could see in all directions. The seas seemed peaceful, with only a gentle rolling back and forth in the waves, but the Black Knights couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Wasn't this supposed to be a 'Sinking Ship'?" Kallen asked.

"Ssh! You'll jinx it!" Milly hissed. "Guts!"

"Is that supposed to be some sort of a spell?" Euphemia asked in confusion.

"Ignore her," Lelouch told his half sister sternly. He had little patience for Milly's antics right now.

Turning around, the Black Knights saw the true form of the Palace - a galleon, larger than any real galleon, though Lelouch supposed that Ashford Academy, the real location that the Palace was based on, had always been larger than life. It was festooned with streaming white banners, ribbons, and blood-red roses. A band could be heard playing in the distance, a tune that seemed joyous at first, but as one listened closer, the undercurrent of a dirge could be heard woven into the melody. Cognitions of party-goers milled about the deck, engaging in small talk with each other. The males wore black uniforms, richly embroidered in a style that would be best described as baroque or rococo, while the girls wore fancy period dresses in varying colors. But there was something deeply unsettling about the Cognitions; each wore an identical, hard white mask, their lips spread into thin, mocking smiles, and all that could be seen behind the holes for the eyes were black voids.

"I was expecting something more modern," Kallen murmured. "But who is the wedding for?"

"Shirley was always the romantic type," Milly replied. "It doesn't surprise me that she'd imagine some sort of fairy tale wedding like this for herself."

"Is it really for her, though?" Leila asked.

"We'll know soon enough," Arthur said. "But I don't like this. Something's not right."

"Let's go," Lelouch told his fellow Black Knights.

The Cognitions did not appear to be hostile, and let the Black Knights move among them unhindered. They overheard several references to a 'Black Prince', who was apparently the groom, and was to marry a beautiful princess.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who that was supposed to be, and Lelouch could feel the eyes of his companions settling upon him.

As they neared the stern of the ship, they saw that where there should have been the great cabin, there was a recreation of Ashford Academy's Clubhouse, perched atop the vessel.

"Her Cognition shows increased levels of distortion ahead," Leila reported. "I'm detecting Shadows within and below deck. Wait… there's a powerful Shadow, incoming!"

"Oh? It seems we have more guests!" A familiar, cheerful voice said, but at the same time, it had an otherworldly and malevolent quality to it that was alien to the original.

There was a splash, and the Shadow leapt out of the water, a blur of green and copper, and gracefully landed on the deck of the ship. For a moment, the Black Knights saw a fish's tail, covered in scintillating scales, before it shimmered and reformed into a pair of long, toned and distinctly human legs. Rising upon its new limbs, the Shadow turned to face them.

"I was wondering when you would come, Lulu," Shadow Shirley smiled at him.

"Be careful, Zero!" Arthur hissed. "We're all in our thief costumes… that means…."

"I know," Lelouch whispered. Shadow Shirley might look friendly at a glance, but to be forced into their thief costumes from the moment that they entered her Palace meant that she saw them as a threat.

However, Shadow Shirley made no move to attack. She continued to stand before them, her coppery-red hair glistening in the moonlight as water dripped from it. Unlike the guests, her outfit was… revealing, to say the least. No, practically nonexistent was more accurate. Her breasts were partly covered only by thin, dangling strands of hair protecting her modesty, and tenuously at that. They were quite a bit bigger than Lelouch had realized. Her nether regions were covered by some residual green scales between her legs, she wore a strand of pearls around her neck, and a tiara made of assorted seashells crowned her head, but that was it. Besides the scales, she outwardly appeared fully human, except for fanned, regal fin-like protrusions that she had in the place of her ears, and a Shadow's glowing golden eyes.

"Well, say something, Lulu," Shadow Shirley said. She leaned forward slightly, a coy look on her face, giving him an even better view of her chest, while keeping her arms behind her, as if to show that she was harmless.

Shadow Shirley was the very definition of a siren. He had never seen Shirley in this way before. The real Shirley would have been mortified by such a display, and Lelouch could almost feel his hormones begging to be let free, the more primitive part of his mind enthralled by the sight before him. But he held himself back with an iron will. He knew that to approach Shadow Shirley unguarded would inevitably invite his own self-destruction.

"Wh-what do you think you're doing?" Kallen sputtered at the Shadow. "Shamelessly parading yourself in front of him like that?"

"Yes!" Euphemia agreed with unusual vehemence.

"No one asked you, Kallen!" Shadow Shirley snapped, her golden eyes flaring in anger. "You might be dressed differently here, but you're always hovering around Lulu!" Her gaze fixed itself on Milly. "And don't think I didn't notice you running those lecherous eyes over me, you pervert! You were probably thinking about giving my chest a feel again, weren't you?"

"How is that fair?" Milly complained. "Zero's eyes were all over you too!"

"You too, Arthur…" Shadow Shirley sighed, shaking her head. She looked up, glancing and Leila and then Euphemia, her golden eyes narrowing as they settled upon the princess. "And who are you, anyway? It was bad enough when Lulu started going out with Kallen! Don't tell me he's been seeing you too!"

"It's not like that," Euphemia protested.

"Just wait until he breaks your heart too!" Shadow Shirley shot back. "What do you want from me anyway?" she asked miserably. "This isn't how I wanted to spend my birthday, you know."

That was right…. It was July 8th… Shirley had turned seventeen that day.

"You all forgot, didn't you…" Shadow Shirley frowned. "You were all too busy doing whatever you do as Black Knights. Isn't it enough that you killed my father?" She hung her head. "Listen, I'll give you one chance, for old times' sake. Just leave this place now, and I won't hurt any of you."

"Shirley…" Lelouch said slowly. "We're here to help you, but we can't do that if you fight us. Stand down, and I'll be happy to face whatever punishment I deserve for putting you through this when it's all over."

"No!" Shadow Shirley shouted. "You're a liar! You're all liars! You just want to steal my Treasure and get me out of the way! But I won't let you! I'll avenge my father's death, here and now!" She held out a hand, power swirling around her. "Scylla! Charybdis! Hear me!"

Darkness converged on the deck, and a large Shadow appeared, in the form of nymph, which must have once been beautiful, fused to a monster with six snapping heads that could be none other than Scylla.

"What our your orders, Princess Shirley?" Scylla asked its ruler.

Lelouch thought he saw Shadow Shirley grimace, but only for a moment. "Kill the Black Knights," she ordered. "It's the only way."

"As you command, Your Highness," Scylla replied dutifully.

"This is really bad!" Arthur shouted over Scylla's roar.

"There's another Shadow in the water, on our port side!" Leila called out. Glancing in the indicated direction, Lelouch saw a vast maelstrom open up, large enough to swallow the ship whole, sucking enormous quantities of water down into its maw. Of course, real whirlpools didn't work that way, but that didn't matter in the Metaverse. The public saw whirlpools almost as if they were black holes of the sea, inexorably pulling in everything around them, and with a quick mental calculation, Lelouch estimated that they had less than two minutes before Charybdis devoured them.

That wasn't enough time to dispatch both Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla was the immediate threat, but every second they spent fighting her brought them closer to Charybdis. There had to be another way.

Swiftly searching his surroundings, he finally found what they needed. On the front balcony of the Clubhouse there was the ship's helm. If they could seize it, they could steer the ship away from Charybdis. But Scylla stood between them and the Clubhouse, and was poised to intercept anyone who tried to make their way past it.

There was only one solution; they would need to distract Scylla.

Mobility would be essential for the operation. They didn't have much time to begin with, and the Black Knight sent to man the helm would have only a narrow window to dart past Scylla while its attention was elsewhere, and then they would have to reach the balcony. Clearly, the only suitable candidate were those Black Knights with flying Personas, which meant Kallen or Milly. He immediately ruled himself out, as Shadow Shirley's attention was fixed on him moreso than any other Black Knight, so she, and by extension, Scylla, would be sure to take notice if he was the one to take the helm. He was more valuable as part of the diversion. Kallen's offensive output was far greater than Milly's, and would further serve to maintain Scylla's focus on the Black Knights in front of it, and they would need Kallen free to fight if they got too close to Charybdis. Besides… something felt right about Milly steering this Cognitive version of Ashford Academy.

All of this was decided in a matter of seconds.

"Diamond," he said, just loud enough so that she would hear him but Scylla and Shadow Shirley would not. "Use Medea and take the helm on the Clubhouse balcony! We'll give you an opening!"

"Right, Zero!" She nodded. "Leave it to me!"

"What are you planning?" Shadow Shirley hissed. "You're always plotting things behind my back, aren't you, Lulu?!"

Ignoring her, the Black Knights launched their diversionary assault on Scylla. Guren Jigoku led the charge, going toe to toe with the Shadow, a blur as it streaked back and forth, nimbly dodging Scylla's relentless attacks. Scylla tried to trap Guren Jigoku between three of its heads, but Kallen's Persona triumphantly decapitated one of them with a large knife before retreating to a safe distance, leaving radiation burns across Scylla's body.

Euphemia and Arthur were next, striking Scylla with ice and wind. Euphemia's spell proved ineffective, but Arthur's at least gave Scylla pause, though any damage from it was minor. Leila stayed in the rear, working on analyzing their foes' defenses and casting healing and protective spells as need.

Lelouch summoned Shiki-Ouji, now resistant to nuclear attacks following a stay in Lockdown after Alciel's defeat. Scylla targeted him at once, the remaining five monstrous heads converging to try to devour his Persona. But Shiki-Ouji was impervious to Scylla's fangs, and Lelouch knew that they had their opening.

"Diamond! Now!" He shouted.

"Right!" Pulling off her mask in a flourish, Milly summoned Medea, who took hold of her and flew over Scylla, safely dropping Milly on the balcony.

"What?!" Shadow Shirley shouted in disbelief. "Stop her!" she ordered Scylla.

Scylla turned to attack Milly, but it was encumbered by its bulk, and could not do so quickly, giving Milly the opportunity to start turning the ship away from its collision course with Charybdis. The other Black Knights took the opportunity to redouble their attack. As a monster that normally spent its time hidden among rocky crags, Scylla was unaccustomed to being attacked from the rear, and accordingly vulnerable, allowing the Black Knights to cut deep into it. Scylla howled in pain, and again when Kallen cut off another of its heads, collapsing onto the deck, but not before managing to make a lunge at Milly. The attack veered to the side as its body crumpled, dragging the head down with it, but it still managed to take a large bite out of the balcony's railing.

Lelouch wasn't going to give Scylla another chance to rise and threaten Milly. "Launch an all-out attack!" he ordered.

The Black Knights on the deck descended upon Scylla, and after a sustained assault, its body burst into black wisps.

"Zero, we have a problem!" Leila said telepathically, cutting through the din, her voice urgent. "Charybdis is pursuing us! We can't outrun it at the rate it's gaining on us!"

Charybdis could move on its own?

"Diamond, angle the ship to cut across the edge of the maelstrom!"

"Are you sure?"

"Just do it!"

Charybdis was nearly upon them, but by moving tangent to its vortex, they would stay out of its maw for as long as possible.

"Yikes!" Milly called out, able to see into Charybdis' depths before they could from her high vantage point. "That's way too many teeth!"

In another moment, Charybdis came into view for the other Black Knights. Row upon row of fangs lined the bottom of the whirlpool's funnel, the mouth of an enormous Shadow that seemed more like a horror out of the fevered nightmares of H.P. Lovecraft than anything else.

The Black Knights hardly needed to be told that they had to unload everything they had upon it: grenades, bullets, lightning from Lelouch's Personas, and strafing beams of nuclear energy fired from Guren Jigoku's palm as it flew over the maelstrom. Charybdis didn't actively fight back, but it didn't need to, drawing the Palace ever closer to its maw.

Lelouch was starting to experience a sinking feeling, but with one last blast from Guren Jigoku, Charybdis let out a low moan, like that of a whale yet far eerier. The monster released one last belch, violently rocking the Palace back and forth, and then sank under the waves, vanishing from sight. After a few more moments, the sea was calm again.

"Is it….?" Euphemia started nervously.

"You're asking if it's dead?" Kallen replied. "It had better be."

"The target is silent…" Leila murmured. "I can't sense it any longer."

"Is it dead or not?" Kallen asked impatiently.

"I can't say for sure," Leila frowned.

For her part, Shadow Shirley seemed distressed by this turn of events. "Why couldn't you just make it quick, Lulu? You're only making this more painful than it has to be! Just go!"

The ambience of the Palace changed, and the skies began flashing red.

"She's calling up Shadows from below deck," Leila reported.

"Time to make ourselves scarce!" Arthur shouted.

Lelouch hated to leave now, but fighting through a horde of Shadows was not an option. With a heavy heart, he signaled for the Black Knights to make a tactical withdrawal.

They would be back before long. He swore that to himself.

xXx

"Shirley tried to kill us!" Kallen fumed once they were safely out of the Metaverse and away from prying eyes or ears.

"Her Shadow did," Lelouch corrected.

"What's the difference?" Kallen asked heatedly. "It's part of her, right?"

"Did you ever know Shirley to intentionally hurt someone, much less say an unkind word to anyone?" Lelouch asked.

"Well, no, but…"

"Yet at the same time, there was a lot she was bottling up inside her," Lelouch continued. "Coach Nu's abuse…. Her father's death… Discovering our true identities…"

"To say nothing of jealousy," Kallen added.

"Jealous yourself at how her Shadow was putting the moves on him?" Milly asked.

"Quiet."

"Everyone represses certain thoughts and actions that are unacceptable to society or themselves," Leila said. "Your friend was jealous of your relationship with Lelouch, but I'm sure the thought of lashing out at you would have been horrifying to her. The thought must have still existed within her, but she probably censored it and shoved it out of her conscious mind as soon as it occurred to her."

"And that thought became a part of her Shadow," Arthur concluded. "That's what a Shadow is, right? All of your dark, hidden desires…"

"It doesn't strictly need to be a dark desire," Leila corrected. "Just a desire or a trait that you don't recognize as being a part of yourself. For example, someone with social anxiety might have a gregarious Shadow. It can be a source of great creativity as well. At least, that was Jung's view on the Shadow."

"But he wasn't writing about the real Shadows that we're facing in the Metaverse, was he?" Milly asked. "Besides, haven't the Shadows of the previous Palace rulers been pretty much exactly like the real ones?"

"They allowed themselves to be taken over by their Shadows," Lelouch replied. "Hence why there was scarcely any difference between the Shadow and the real person at that point. We can assume that Shirley's Palace only formed recently, so she hasn't been fully possessed by her own Shadow yet."

"I don't think the real Clovis truly appreciated how vain and monstrous he had really become, not until we changed his heart," Leila said softly. "His Shadow exulted in its vanity though. So the theory still holds up."

"I wonder what my own Shadow would be like…" Euphemia murmured. She shuddered. "I don't think I'd want to meet her."

"I don't think a Persona user can run into their own Shadow," Arthur replied. He nodded at Lelouch. "Our leader turns Shadows into Personas all the time. I think your Persona _is_ your Shadow, but working with you rather than against you."

"We're bogging ourselves down in minutia," Lelouch said. "That may well be true, but infiltrating that Palace remains the priority. Everything else can wait for now. Go and get your rest, everyone. As soon as the alert is lowered, we're heading back in."

xXx

Shirley was having nightmares again.

She had skipped classes, terrified of facing her fellow members of the Student Council, or as they had been revealed to her, the core of the Black Knights. Instead, she had spent most of her day in bed, fading in and out of consciousness, getting whatever rest she could after several sleepless nights, but even that was fitful. She kept dreaming of a sinking ship and horrifying monsters. But worst of all were her dreams of masked classmates, staring at her with soulless eyes that were just black voids, offering her cruel smiles even as they whispered behind her back. All in all, it was the worst birthday that she had ever had.

She heard someone at the door. It had to her roommate, Sophie Wood, returning back to the dormitory for the evening. Sophie had been bringing her food, enabling Shirley to stay in her room except when she needed to use the restroom, for which she was grateful, but at the same time, Shirley couldn't help but worry. What if Sophie was just keeping an eye on her for the Black Knights?

No! That was crazy! Sophie was her friend. But then again, she had thought the other members of the Student Council were her friends as well…

She shook her head. She was letting her imagination get the best of her.

"Come in," she said glumly. It wasn't as if she could stop Sophie from doing so, since her roommate had the other key to their room.

The door opened, and at once Shirley realized something was very wrong.

"I'm pleased to meet you, Miss Shirley Fenette," a mocking male voice said.

"Huh? Who are you? Where's Sophie? What did you do to her?"

"You're concerned for your roommate? How admirable!" The man said, holding up his hands and clapping several times. "Of course, you're far more concerned about the Black Knights, and how your precious Lulu is one of them!"

"No… how could you…" Shirley gasped. She had never met this man before, but somehow he knew the secret that had been torturing her.

"I know everything about you, Shirley Fenette, and your sin. But it's not just your sins you have to pay for. The sins of your father must also be punished."

"My father's already gone!" Shirley sobbed. "And he never hurt anyone! I don't know what you-".

"It's too late to play the tragic heroine. Deep down you know that you're a wicked witch who thinks only of her own heart and deserves to be punished. And you will be."

"Beginning navigation," a mechanical voice announced from the man's phone.

The world distorted around Shirley and the stranger, transporting her away from Ashford Academy and into her nightmares.

xXx

"Master Lelouch, come quickly," Sayoko said, knocking on his door. "There's something on the news that you should see."

What was it now? Still, he knew that Sayoko would not interrupt him as he was trying to go to bed unless it was important, so he rose and followed her to the living room.

"I repeat, we are being forced to air this pre-recorded message," the anchor was saying as Lelouch arrived in front of the television. The terrorist known only as Medjed has threatened to kill members of our board of directors and our newsroom staff if we do not comply or if the broadcast is interrupted or altered in any way. We believe these threats to be credible, and so we have decided to accede to his demands."

The screen cut to the word "MEDJED" emblazoned menacingly over a green background.

"Good evening, Black Knights!" a male voice with a maniacal edge to it began. "You've been causing quite an uproar here in Area 11!" The sound of clapping as if in mock congratulations could be heard on the recording. "But hearing you talk of your false justice is so tiresome," the voice continued petulantly. "I am the true knight of justice!" The speaker clapped again, and when he resumed, his voice was filled with condescension. "However, I am magnanimous. I shall give you an opportunity to do penance for your wicked ways! By the time this message is released, I will have taken something important from you, and brought it to the palatial ship where one drowns in their evil desires. If you can find me there and retrieve what I've taken, I'll even admit defeat!" Medjed laughed and clapped for several seconds. "But if you reject my offer, I will reveal your secrets for the entire world to see! Since I'm so generous, I'll even give you two weeks to do it! That counts today, by the way. But I would hurry if I were you… I might get restless if you keep me waiting for too long, and then what I've taken might not survive.…" he added on a note of mock sadness.

"I am Medjed, the Smiter," the voice concluded, the last word punctuated by a particularly loud clap. "I am unseen. I eliminate evil."

"And there you have it," the anchor announced. "The terrorist Medjed's ultimatum to the Black Knights. What does it mean? We've assembled a panel of experts…"

Lelouch didn't care what the so-called experts had to say; it was doubtlessly drivel from Area 11's finest talking heads. What Medjed had said was very disturbing to him. Medjed had made a clear reference to Shirley's Palace, a cryptic reference to any not already familiar with the Metaverse that the media would doubtlessly spend many hours poring over and invent many creative theories to explain. But the only way Medjed could possibly know about Shirley's Palace was if he had been….

Lelouch felt his cell phone ringing.

He picked it up at once, and heard Milly's frantic voice on the other end.

"Lelouch! Shirley is missing! We found her roommate, Sophie… She was knocked out but should be okay… But there's no trace of Shirley anywhere!"

"She's been kidnapped by Medjed," Lelouch said, clenching a fist, not daring to raise his voice louder lest he wake Nunnally. "That's the only explanation."

"But why?" Milly said.

"Medjed must have been stalking her for some time. I don't know how, but he must have discovered her Palace before we did. Once inside, it would be easy for him to discover her connection to us. Now he's using Shirley to force us to play his little game."

"That's awful…"

"Shirley should be okay in the short term," Lelouch replied, clamping down on the chaotic swell of emotions in his chest, "provided that Medjed keeps her in one of the Palace's safe rooms. But we don't have long. Medjed gave us two weeks, but we may have much less than that."

"It's a trap, Lelouch. You know that, don't you?" Milly asked.

"Of course it is," he replied. "Shirley is the bait. But you don't honestly expect me to believe that you of all people are telling me to leave her to die."

"No, but…"

"It's a trap, yes," Lelouch replied. "And we have no choice but to walk into it. But we'll turn the tables on Medjed… and rescue Shirley!"

 **Days Until Shirley is Killed: 13**

 **A/N:**

 **Thanks to my reviewers and beta reader, who through their suggestions helped me refine the details for this chapter. Shirley's Palace was always going to be a ship, but they helped me settle on a Galleon instead of a cruise ship (like in P5), as a Galleon better fit the motifs I plan to include in the Palace, and galleons often served as treasure ships, which is fitting for a Palace.**

 **Shadow Shirley's attire (or lack thereof) was chosen to be in line with more traditional depictions of mermaids, rather than the Disneyfied version of them. Plus, I thought it served to better emphasize her Deadly Sin of Lust and her yearning for Lelouch's attention. Further, Shirley consciously rejects presenting herself in such a shameless manner, so naturally her Shadow does the opposite.**

 **"Medjed" makes his appearance. His ultimatum is based on the challenge issued by the game's Medjed, though its delivery is altered to suit his personality. I think I might have been influenced by Death Note a bit with him threatening the TV station, but as this version of Medjed is not a hacker, I thought it better fit his modus operandi.**

 **Next time, the Black Knights will get a closer look at Shirley's Palace. Thanks for reading and your continued support!**


	37. The Sinking Ship

"The security level is already down?" Milly asked in confusion. "Doesn't it normally take several days to fall once the Palace Ruler raises it that high?"

"That's how it usually works, yes," Arthur agreed.

"Let's not overlook the elephant in the room," Kallen said crossly. "You went sneaking off into Shirley's Palace, alone!"

"Time is of the essence," Lelouch replied. "I left as soon as I confirmed the security level. I don't want to waste any days that we don't have to."

"Brother, I know that I'm hardly one to talk, but did you learn nothing from what happened when we each tried to handle the Black King on our own?" Euphemia frowned.

"It's not like you to be so reckless," Leila said. "You must realize that-"

"Yes, it's a trap!" Lelouch snapped. "The whole Palace is already a trap! Whether it's Medjed using Shirley as bait or her Shadow purposefully lowering the Palace's security level so that she can lure us in and then sink us once she's thinks we're too far inside, that doesn't change what we have to do! If we do nothing, Medjed will reveal who we are and Shirley will die!"

"If we rush in without a plan and get ourselves killed, then no one will be able to help her," Leila replied softly. "Then again, I can't say that I wouldn't rush in myself if someone I loved was in trouble. You love her, don't you?" she asked, her amethyst gaze penetrating him.

"What are you asking him that, Leila?" Kallen asked with sudden consternation. "Lelouch and I are-"

Lelouch also found himself reeling by the unexpected question. Why did Leila have such have a knack at piercing the defenses he had built up around himself? He supposed it stemmed from her nature as a representative of the High Priestess. Intuition was one of the traits symbolized by that Arcana, the same intuition Leila used to perceive her surroundings or analyze enemy defenses in the Metaverse, as well as what made her such a good cold reader in the real world. But the questions she asked him rarely had comfortable answers, and now he saw her earlier tarot reading in an entirely new light.

The Reversed Lovers and Upright Tower hadn't been just a reflection of his uncertainty at the suddenness of his relationship with Kallen and a premonition of how to defeat Alciel's rooks. The Reversed Lovers was Shirley's Shadow and the strain she had brought into his relationship with Kallen, who now showed jealousy toward Shirley where there had been none before, and the Upright Tower foretold Medjed kidnapping Shirley and threatening the Black Knights with ruination.

No. He had to remind himself once again that Leila couldn't actually read the future in the real world. That was impossible. The human mind had a tendency to work with the alleged fortune teller, stretching itself and interpreting events in any ways necessary to lend credence to fraudulent predictions that were intentionally vague for that very purpose.

But…

He found he couldn't say that Leila was wrong.

He would go to great lengths to protect those close to him, such as his friends on the Student Council. But for Shirley's predicament to provoke such a strong reaction in him, to the point of overriding his better judgment and making him recklessly take risks, focusing on saving her to the exclusion of all else…

That was how he would react if Nunnally was in trouble. Or, he realized, it was the same way he would react if Kallen were taken from him…. It was far more than mere feelings of friendship. If Nunnally was his guiding light, the reason why he fought, Kallen was his queen and partner in the fight against Britannia, above the other Black Knights, a chariot driving him ever onward to victory with her passion and strength. And Shirley…

He had loved her for a long time, even if he hadn't fully admitted it to himself, and to a greater degree than he had ever recognized until Medjed had threatened her life. He had denied or downplayed the depth of his own feelings for her to mere what-could-have-beens, but the truth was that Shirley had nonetheless managed to work her way into his heart, and the thought that he might not see the real Shirley again was now dangerously throwing him off-balance, robbing him of any semblance of normalcy.

None of that meant that he was insincere in his feelings toward Kallen. Over the last few months, she had become just as important to him. He still wasn't good at expressing his feelings, but as he fought alongside her and helped her deal with her family problems, he had come to care for her just as deeply. But now his girlfriend needed an answer from him, and he had to choose his words carefully.

"I chose you, Kallen," he said after a moment. "I suppose I do have feelings for Shirley as well, more than I ever thought I did. But never think for a moment Kallen that you were my second choice just because I couldn't involve Shirley. You are, as always, my Queen, and I would never seek to betray the promise that we made together."

"Ooh, you're a smooth talker, Lelouch" Milly giggled.

Kallen grimaced. "I won't pretend that I'm happy to hear that." He didn't blame her. After what happened to her mother, he supposed that Kallen had every reason to fear being supplanted by another lover. "But when you put it like that, I can't be angry." She glanced away for a moment. "Besides, Shirley's still a member of the Student Council. We have to look out for each other, and that comes before anything as petty as jealousy."

"I can't agree more," he told her.

"Just don't do anything else stupid, Lelouch, like going in there by yourself, or you'll have me to answer to!"

"I accept your terms."

xXx

Cautiously, the Black Knights crept across the deck of Shirley's Palace. They had in the end agreed to reenter it, since the Palace wasn't going to be any less of a trap whether or not they delayed. Indeed, if they waited for too long, Medjed might decide to carry out his threat of murdering Shirley before his original deadline. But as Leila and the others had urged, they would use the same methodical approach to exploring Shirley's Palace as they had in those before it, so that when the trap was finally sprung they might have a chance of escaping from it.

"Does the ship seem a little lower in the water to you?" Euphemia whispered. "I mean, compared to the last time we were here."

Leila concentrated for a moment, summoning Jeanne d'Arc, and then nodded. "It's not something I had the chance to search for last time, but you're correct. The ship is very gradually taking on water, and it will eventually sink, whether the Palace ruler resorts to more drastic measures or not. However, the leaks are so small and the ship has so much buoyancy from the amount of water that it is currently displacing that it should pose not a problem to our infiltration."

"Knowing the stunt that she pulled last time, I wouldn't be surprised if she conjured up a big iceberg and put it in the path of the ship," Kallen muttered.

"Ssh!" Milly hissed. "You don't want to give her ideas like that!"

"I for one, do not want to get wet," Arthur declared.

"So you don't like that water, just like any other cat?" Milly asked, tilting her head slightly in curiosity.

"It's not that…" Arthur replied. "It's just that if I get drenched, my coat won't be able to keep me warm. It's no fun being stuck out in the rain without shelter, to say nothing of being dumped in the ocean."

"It's okay," Leila said, bending down to give Arthur a pat on the head. "With any luck, we'll all stay dry."

xXx

Neither Shadow Shirley nor Medjed had made an appearance by the time the Black Knights reached Shirley's Cognitive replica of the Clubhouse, but none of them were ready to lower their guard.

"There are still Shadows on patrol within," Leila confirmed. "Be careful, everyone."

Pushing open one of its doors as quietly as they could, the Black Knights entered the Clubhouse. The foyer was set up as a ballroom, and was patrolled by Shadows in the form of pairs of dancers, taller and more beautiful at a glance than the Cognitions around them. They too were masked, giving the whole scene the feeling of a masquerade ball, but unlike the Cognitions, they were actively hostile to the Black Knights. Other Shadows took the form of ceremonial guards wielding halberds and primitive muskets, which moved about the perimeter, and occasionally Shadows dressed as sailors would emerge from passages on the sides before vanishing back down into the hold of the ship.

"Let's try to reach the Student Council meeting room," Lelouch whispered to his teammates. "That has to be an important location in her Palace."

The Black Knights for the most part managed to avoid detection by keeping themselves hidden among the crowd of Cognitions, but occasionally they were forced to fight as they moved across the ballroom. As they neared the base of the stairs, there was a female dancer Shadow that was without a partner, so Lelouch took the chance to strike.

"Show me your true form!" Lelouch said as he ripped off the Shadow's mask.

The Shadow burst and reformed into a Yearning Siren with long, pale green hair and a blue-gray tail, seated on a lonely rocky perch. Lelouch gave the Yearning Siren no chance to get its bearings, attacking with its logical weakness, electricity. The Shadow cried out in pain, though its voice was drowned out by the music of the ballroom, and fell from its perch, giving the Black Knights all the chance they needed to surround the Shadow, their weapons drawn. Stepping forward, Lelouch signaled to his allies to refrain from an all-attack. Not only would the noise likely attract the other Shadows, but he wanted to see if he could persuade the downed Shadow to join him as one of his Personas.

As soon as the Yearning Siren saw Lelouch, she instinctively covered her chest with her arms and averted her gaze from him.

"You're the Black Knights, aren't you? Princess Shirley warned us about you. Are all humans this heartless?" the Yearning Siren asked.

"Some are," Lelouch admitted. "But we change their hearts."

"Princess Shirley says that when two people love each other, their hearts become one." The Yearning Siren paused. "Do you think humans have immortal souls?"

Lelouch had never been one who had been much interested in religion. Yet his Personas claimed to come from the sea of his soul, and when Euphemia had revived Milly, she had done so by recalling her spirit. So maybe…

"I do," he told her. Maybe he wasn't fully convinced, but at a certain point skepticism became arbitrary. Besides, if he remembered how this story went…

"I wish I could have a soul of my own…" the Yearning Siren said wistfully. "But why must Princess Shirley suffer for her love?" The Yearning Siren's eyes lit up. "Wait a minute! I just remembered! I'm not a Shadow! I come from the sea of the soul. My name's Mermaid! Please, take me with you! I don't want to dissolve into foam."

Mermaid transformed into a mask in a flash of blue light, and was drawn into Lelouch's own, merging with it. Fittingly, she was a Persona of the Lovers Arcana.

The path beyond the stairs was narrow and heavily guarded. Lelouch could persuade Mermaid Shadows not to fight them once they realized he carried one of their sisters as a mask within him, but in other cases fighting was unavoidable. Notable among their foes were the Slithering Snakewomen. Like the Mermaids, their upper halves were mostly human, specifically in the form of beautiful black-haired women with regal bearings, but their lower halves were long, red-scaled, coiling serpentine tails, and their eyes were filled with hate. Their nails were practically claws, which they would use to slash at the Black Knights in a rising motion, and they uttered ominous words that could cast their target into despair, to say nothing of the threat that their fire spells posed on a wooden vessel. Fortunately, Mermaid could easily dispatch the Snakewomen by using Bufula to conjure large ice crystals, while offering the ability to cast Magaru to attack multiple enemies with gusts of wind or even tend to allies with Diarama, a more potent healing spell.

But the Slithering Snakewomen were far from the only Shadows that they encountered on the way to the Student Council Room. There were the Envoys of Sleep, small Shadows with heads that looked like the crescent moon who carried bags which they would toss enchanted sand from, trying to lull the Black Knights to sleep. The devilish Lilim knew the spell Marin Karin and, like a certain Student Council President, did not discriminate between trying to beguile males or females. Far more dangerous were the green-robed angels with sunlike-crowns and scepters, who used the same exorcism magic that the Black Knights had learned to fear in the last Palace. But most disconcerting of all were the Shadows that took the form of hideous zombie-like horrors with long tentacle-like feelers where their eyes should be, and rows of teeth lining mouths that stretched all the way down their abdomens, which left Euphemia visibly unnerved by their sheer wrongness.

As they continued to fight, Lelouch found he couldn't help but see the Shadows before them as eerie reflections of Shirley's mental state. Of course, all Shadows that guarded Palaces conformed to the desires of the resident Palace ruler, but this was more than simple obedience. Perhaps it had always been there. The alluring female Shadows in Clovis' Palace came to mind, as did the corrupting Karasu Tengu and vicious Oni in the Black King's Palace. But now it was plain to him. Love and lust, justice and vengeance, sweet dreams and horrific nightmares all mingled in the Palace, contradictions that were tearing Shirley apart.

The decor around them also served to put to rest any lingering denials the Black Knights might have about the Deadly Sin at the root of Shirley's distorted desires. Not only was the Palace lavishly decorated with ribbons and roses for the wedding of the Palace's princess to the illusive Black Prince, but the gallery overlooking the ballroom floor was lined with statues depicting an all too familiar subject.

"My, my, Zero…" Milly murmured, a smirk on her face. "I knew that Shirley was into you, but it looks like there's more of me in her than she would care to admit."

The statues were of Lelouch. Their poses were, for the most part, familiar to him. It wasn't uncommon for him to be asked to serve as a model for his classmates' sketches in art class, and indeed, he was a favorite subject for female students to draw. But why was he half-naked? In most of these statues, he was dressed in little more than a speedo, though some added a crown on his head or a robe that failed to hide a physique that would have made the statues a vanity portrait of himself, if he had been the one to commission them. His face got redder as he realized that he actually was completely naked in a few of the statues.

"I never thought your abs were so chiseled, Zero," Milly continued to tease. "Have you started hitting the gym without telling us? Could it be all this running around in the Metaverse? Or maybe you've been doing some private training with Queen to build up your stamina," she said, her smile growing wide. "How about it, Queen? Does Zero really look like that in bed?" Her eyes flicked over to one of the nude statues. "Is it really that big?"

"W-why are you asking that?" Kallen stammered. She had to be blushing furiously under her lotus mask. "That's-"

"Enough!" Lelouch said, cutting them off. "Stay focused, both of you!"

Eventually, they reached the doors leading to the Student Council Room. They were locked, but Lelouch could hardly be surprised. Even if Shadow Shirley had purposefully called off many her guards to lure them into the Palace, there were still places important to her Cognition that she would reflexively defend, and the Student Council room was evidently one of those places. Or, viewed another way, the lock was a manifestation of the real Shirley's attempts to put distance between herself and the other members of the Student Council after learning they were Black Knights.

Milly tried to open the door after the others had failed to open it, but it remained securely locked.

"I was almost sure that it would let me through," she frowned. "Since when haven't I been able to go pretty much wherever I want on campus? I mean, other than when Coach Nu and the SSDF were running things?"

"Your friend rules this Palace," Leila replied. "Her desires take precedence here."

"How are we going to get through?" Euphemia asked with worry.

"I'm sure there's a way," Arthur reassured her.

"I'd bet she's stowed it below deck," Kallen grumbled. "Can you think of a better way for her to trap us?"

"No, I think that's it," Lelouch agreed. He turned to the other Black Knights. "Let's play along then, shall we? It's not like we have a choice in the matter."

They nodded gravely.

xXx

Returning to the ballroom, the Black Knights crept along the sides, entering the passageways that they had previously seen sailors using to travel below deck. They were more spacious than those of a real galleon would have been, befitting the grandeur of a Palace, but now that they were confined on four sides, fighting took place in even closer quarters than before.

Still, that was not to say that they were without hiding places. Every so often there were barrels, presumably containing provisions, that they could duck behind, lying in wait for nearby Shadows, and whenever the corridor turned there were blind spots at the corners in which the Black Knights could conceal themselves.

They passed by a number of cabins for the guests, which appeared to correspond to Ashford Academy's dormitories. Among them, they found a safe room, which confirmed this as Shirley's distorted Cognition of it as part of her Palace flickered in and out, revealing a well-furnished but otherwise unremarkable girl's room. It probably belonged to a girl who Shirley did not know well, or whose room she had never been inside, explaining why her Cognition was so weak there.

"The cabin representing Shirley's room in the girl's dormitory must be nearby," Lelouch murmured. "We might be able to find a clue there."

"Not to mention what sort of panties Shirley has," Milly grinned impishly.

Lelouch sighed and shook his head slightly in exasperation.

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood a little," Milly frowned.

"If the Student Council room was locked, then Shirley's cabin is sure to be locked as well," Kallen said, ignoring Milly.

"I agree," Arthur added.

"So then, how do you suggest that we get in, Zero?" Kallen asked.

"We'll find a way."

xXx

Indeed, they soon came across a cabin that appeared to belong to Shirley. A Cognition of a girl with dark hair, though lighter than his own, who was about the same age as Shirley, stood outside the door. The girl's facial features were hidden behind a stark white mask, but after several moments Lelouch realized who she was. It was a Cognition of Shirley's roommate, Sophie Wood.

"Who are you?" Cognitive Sophie asked, sounding unfriendly. "Princess Shirley asked me not to let anyone into her cabin."

They needed to come up with a satisfactory response quickly, or else Cognitive Sophie would raise the alarm, allowing Shadow Shirley to pinpoint their location within her Palace and start swarming them with Shadows. But then an idea came to Lelouch's mind. It was just a rumor, but it was whispered that there was a certain member of the Student Council who Sophie had a crush on. It wasn't him, but they just so happened to have the object of Sophie's affections in their party. Whether or not the rumors or true were not wasn't important. As long as Shirley believed them, then her Cognition of Sophie would conform to that perception, and that would give them a way in.

He turned to Milly. "They say Sophie's into you, Diamond," he whispered. "She if you can persuade her to open the door for us."

"With pleasure," Milly smiled. She took a few steps forward. "Well, well, Sophie, I've been looking for you," she said, her voice dropping low and seductive.

Cognitive Sophie's masked expression remained impassive, but her voice piqued with interest.

"That voice," she said. "Milly?"

"Would you do me a favor and let us in?" Milly said, batting her eyelashes. "I'd be sure to remember your help, and could schedule some quality time alone for us," she continued suggestively.

Was that a trickle of blood running from the nostrils of Cognitive Sophie's mask?

"If it's for you, Milly," Cognitive Sophie said breathlessly, and handed over the key to Shirley's cabin without a fight.

Standing before the door to Shirley's cabin, the Black Knights felts chills pass through them. They didn't need Leila to tell them that the distortion on the other side of the door was vastly much greater than what they had seen so far in the Palace. Indeed, the distortion was so great that Leila said that she couldn't tell exactly what was in there.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Arthur grimaced.

Milly turned the key and opened the door.

At once, the Black Knights were met with a rush of water out of Shirley's cabin that pushed them back and began flooding the passageway. After a moment, the torrent subsided somewhat, allowing the Black Knights to clamber back to their feet, but a slow but steady stream of water continued to flow out of the cabin.

"I knew it!" Arthur chattered. While all of the Black Knights had gotten wet from the expected deluge, Arthur's small stature meant that he had been completely drenched from head to tail. He began licking himself frantically, as if to mop up the salty water that had saturated his fur. Leila quickly scooped him up in her arms and began to pat him dry with the parts of her dress that hadn't gotten wet.

"So this was one of her traps," Lelouch murmured. Around them, the atmosphere of the passageway had grown more oppressive, and now had a faint red glow to it, signifying a heightened security level. It wasn't yet the bright flashing red that would indicate that Shadow Shirley was about to overrun their position with Shadows, but it meant that there would be significantly more patrols between them and their objective. "Simple but effective." He mentally cursed himself. Of all the traps she could have used against them, he hadn't anticipated something like this. There would be no way to stem the tide of the water issuing from Shirley's cabin, for it was Cognitive in nature, and until they found Shirley in the Palace or stole her Treasure they couldn't change her Cognition. Leila had said the Palace was taking on water so slowly that it would not significantly affect their deadline. But now…

"How much time do we have, Bishop?" He asked.

Leila bit her lip. "Our saving grace is the size of the Palace. But something like that will sink it in a few days at most," she replied finally.

Kallen swore in Japanese.

"What do we do, Zero?" Euphemia asked anxiously.

"We press on," Lelouch said. "We can't afford to delay or waste time with extraneous infiltrations now. We'll see if there's anything useful in the cabin, but then we move. The Palace ruler undoubtedly has a very good idea of where we are right now, and it would be unwise to linger."

Wading inside Shirley's cabin, the Black Knights were dismayed by what they saw. It wasn't a proper cabin at all.

It was a brig.

"No…" Milly gasped. "This is really how Shirley sees her room now?"

"How horrible," Euphemia agreed.

"A prison of her own making," Lelouch concluded.

"But why?" Kallen asked.

"I think that will become clearer as we explore her Palace," Lelouch replied. Truth be told, the brig bothered him far more than he let on. The layout and the architecture was different, but he couldn't help but see it as a watery reflection of the Velvet Room, where Igor kept him imprisoned.

"There's something over there!" Leila announced, pointing to a drawer of a small beside table that was chained to the wall as she completed a scan of the room with Jeanne d'Arc.

Lelouch slowly opened the drawer, wary of further traps.

There were none. Within, there was a slightly waterlogged diary. It was heavier than it looked, yet at the same time, it didn't seem to be entirely there, its edges blurring and the pages becoming less substantial before resolving themselves again, as if it was flickering in and out of existence.

"Is that her Treasure?" Arthur asked.

Leila concentrated and then shook her head. "It's a significant source of distortion in this room, and it has some characteristics of a Treasure, but removing it wouldn't be enough to change her heart or collapse the Palace. Though I feel that it is linked to her true Treasure somehow…"

"Why is it flickering like that?" Kallen asked.

"Perhaps your friend's conviction that we are coming to steal her heart acts as a sort of calling card in of itself?" Leila mused. "It's enough to keep it in a persistent, semi-materialized state, but lacks the immediacy and power of an actual calling card." She paused. "We should leave this place," she whispered. "Shadows are on the move."

"Onwards," Lelouch nodded. "We can take a look at the diary in the next safe room."

xXx

Nearing the front of the ship, the Black Knights encountered a grand, staircase, ornately carved from oak spiraling down to the lower decks. Balconies overlooked the staircase on each side, and a domed skylight was directly above, letting moonlight stream in and glitter off the crystal chandeliers surrounding the staircase.

"I feel like I've seen this before," murmured Kallen.

Milly's eyes lit up. "Oh! I know! It's from that ocean liner that sank in the North Atlantic en route to the homeland after it hit that iceberg nearly fifty years ago!"

"What's it doing on a galleon?" Lelouch asked irritably. "They're centuries apart."

"When people think of sinking ships, that tragedy is seared into their imagination, and this staircase was an iconic part of it," Milly explained. "Shirley's Palace might be based on older stories, but she unconsciously borrowed part of it from the most famous sunken ship of all."

A clock on the wall displayed the time within the Palace, but as they rounded the staircase, they saw something far more interesting. Perched on a pedestal at the end of the railing was a bronze cast statue of a man who was definitely not Lelouch. The man appeared to be in his mid-forties, was slightly heavyset, and thankfully fully clothed. The statue portrayed its subject with a heroic bearing, and further embellished him with a pair of angelic wings sprouting from his back.

"Is that-" Kallen began.

"I love my Papa!" a voice said, seeming to emanate from the diary. It was Shirley's voice, but it sounded more youthful, as Shirley might have sounded when she was a little girl. Yet beneath the carefree innocence, there was an eerie echo, as if Shadow Shirley were speaking as well, her voice filled with pain and longing. "I love him more than anything in this world! There's no one kinder or gentler than my Papa is! Someday I'll even be his wife!"

The young Shirley's sweet voice turned petulant, her Shadow creeping to the fore. "Papa says that someday I'll meet the man that I really love. But who else is there? No one can replace him in my heart!" Anxiety entered her words. "Is it wrong that I love my Papa so much? Or that I want to have him to myself?" Her voice dropped, as if to whisper a secret. "I love Mama too, but sometimes I'll cry and pretend to be hurt or sick when he's paying more attention to her than to me." Shirley giggled, but it was almost all her Shadow now, a malicious mockery of the young girl's voice. "And Papa doesn't suspect a thing." The Shadow faded, and the voice was once again innocent. "Still, I wonder… if Papa's not the man who I really love, who is he? Such a person must be the most precious thing in the world. I hope I meet him one day."

The weight of the diary seemed to grow in Lelouch's hands, as if it were growing more tangible, and then it fell silent.

"Has Shirley always been like this?" Milly asked.

"So it's all about attention for her," Kallen said disapprovingly.

"I don't think that's quite it," Euphemia spoke up.

"What do you mean, Noire?" Kallen asked.

"Well, I know that back when we were all in Pendragon, Nunnally and I used to discuss which one of us was going to marry him," she said, glancing at Lelouch.

"Excuse me?" Kallen said. "Marry him?"

"We were kids," Euphemia replied sheepishly as red flushed her cheeks. "But I know that sometimes Nunnally would get herself sick if she felt like her brother wasn't paying enough attention to her. And Nunnally doesn't have a Palace."

"As far as we know," Milly murmured, only to receive a withering glare from Lelouch.

"All I'm saying is that I think there's more to it than that," Euphemia frowned.

"I can only speak for myself," Arthur added, "But Shirley has only been kind to me and others from what I've seen in your Student Council Room and around the campus, usually without asking for anything in return. She wouldn't be that way if she was all selfish for attention."

Leila nodded in agreement. "Still, this is likely when her Shadow first began to develop as something more complex than the primitive id. After that conversation with her father, she probably began to suppress any romantic feelings she had toward him until they could find a safer, more age-appropriate expression. It's also when idea of her true love became fixed in her psyche, causing her to spend years looking for that person."

The eyes of the other Black Knights focused on Lelouch.

"Let's move on," he told them, trying not to sound perturbed by their stares.

xXx

Beyond the grand staircase, the Black Knights found themselves walking through a small gallery, lined with pictures. On one end, there was a house that Shirley was tearfully leaving behind. Then there was Shirley arriving at Ashford Academy, wearing the pink pinafore over a white shirt with a short red tie that was the middle school uniform. It was followed by a picture of her, still in the middle school uniform, glowering at Lelouch. Then there was a car accident, thankfully a small one, no more than a fender-bender. A wealthy-looking man was yelling at an older couple, as if to blame them for the accident. The last picture showed the wealthy man's car being towed away, to his shock, while Shirley, now in the light yellow jacket and short black skirt of the high school girls' uniform, looked on admiringly at Lelouch, who was reading in the sidecar of Rivalz's motorcycle, a bored expression on his face.

Shirley's voice emerged from the diary again, somewhat older than before. "I grew up in the Homeland. But one day, a few years after the war, my father told us that we had to move to Japan, or Area 11 as it was now called. He said that he had been hired to conduct geological surveys by the Viceroyalty there, to map Area 11 for deposits of useful mineral resources, and to monitor the island's volcanic and seismic activity, to make sure that everyone living in the new settlements would be safe. I didn't fully understand it at the time, but it sounded like my father's work was very important. He said he would have to spend a lot of time away from home while he was at his lab, but he wanted us to come with him to Area 11, so at least he would be able to drop by when he got time off, without having to cross and ocean to do so. I was sad at having to leave my friends in the Homeland behind… but knowing that I wouldn't be able to see my father much made me miserable."

Shirley's voice brightened. "Fortunately, the Tokyo Settlement was a beautiful place to live-"

"What about the rest of Tokyo, bombed out by Brittania?" Kallen snarled.

"I made plenty of friends at my new school too," Shirley's voice continued without heeding the interruption. Her cheer faded once again. "But I was still lonely when my father was away from home." Irritation entered her voice. "And there was one boy that I couldn't stand! Lelouch Lamperouge! He was so flippant, and it seemed the only thing that he worked hard at was avoiding hard work! He always just rubbed me the wrong way! What was his problem anyway?"

"My, how times have changed," Milly murmured with a small smile. "But that's right. Shirley didn't like you at all at first, Zero."

"Who am I kidding?" Shadow Shirley's voice suddenly laughed from the diary. "My conscious self may have thought she hated our Lulu, but there were bullies and far worse people at Ashford Academy, and they never got her as hot and bothered as Lulu did." Her voice became low and lustful. "Deep down, we were drawn to him even then, but she didn't want to admit it. She just needed a little push."

The Shadow's voice faded, leaving just Shirley's again. "But that all changed in my freshman year. I happened upon the scene of an accident. Lulu was there as well. A driver rear-ended another car, and was clearly at fault, but he tried to blame it on the elderly owners of the other car. But no one tried to help them. They were afraid, since the driver who caused the accident appeared to be wealthy, which meant that he was probably a noble. But then, while everyone else was focusing on the driver threatening the old couple, Lulu got up, and hooked the man's car to a tow truck that was waiting for the light. The signal turned green, and there it went, dragging the man's car with it. Lulu didn't do it so that he could boast to his buddies or laugh about it later. He did it with the same bored expression that he always wears. That's when I wondered, 'What's up with this guy? What goes on in his mind? What does he do?' I really wanted to know, and in the process of finding out-"

"My other self finally recognized realized that she was in love with Lulu!" Shadow Shirley's voice giggled maniacally. "And it wasn't just any crush. He was the man my father had spoken of! Before long, we were hopelessly head over heels for him! I felt truly alive, as if I could fly, and spent all day thinking about him! With that one gesture, he had effortlessly stolen my heart, but now I had to win his for myself!"

Kallen shifted uneasily. "I don't like where this is going…"

"Still, it's hard to fault her for becoming interested in you, Zero," Leila said. "You were the Good Samaritan, who helped that couple without any thought of reward. What's not to admire?"

"Not you too, Bishop!" Kallen replied testily.

Lelouch didn't know what to think. Shirley had fallen for him over something as inconsequential as that? He hadn't even remembered the incident until now. It had just been another day for him, and he would have helped anyone in that position. Yet that action had catalyzed the feelings that had eventually become distorted into Shirley's Palace.

What was certain was that the diary gained more solidity in his hands with another memory.

xXx

Leaving the gallery, they moved through a large dinning room and past the ship's galley. As they ambushed enemy Shadows without being detected, the security level of the Palace fell somewhat, as its ruler no longer had as good of an idea as to where to find them. Eventually, they encountered another anachronistic feature - a large swimming pool, much like the one they had at the real Ashford Academy. Cognitions of Mermaids, masked like the others, filled the pool, all fawningly gazing at another revealing statue of Lelouch, a devilish smirk on its face.

"But no matter what I did," Shirley's' voice said from the diary, "Lulu wouldn't see me as anything more than his friend on the Student Council. And I had to deal with every other girl at school also competing for his attention!" her Shadow seethed. "They were all interested in Lelouch for all the wrong reasons! And then…."

The diary shook violently in Lelouch's hands, and from its pages a new Cognition emerged, of a tall, dark-skinned woman with long silvery hair tied into a ponytail, who was wearing a school swimsuit over a toned figure and had a whistle around her neck. The Cognition's mask hid its face, but Lelouch, Kallen, Milly, and Arthur knew exactly who it was of.

"No way!" Milly gasped.

"Don't be so surprised," Cognitive Villetta said, her masked expression static even as venom dripped from her words. "This place is my domain." Laughing, she cracked a whip in her hands. At once the Mermaids in the pool cried out in pain as chains attached to heavy weights wrapped appeared and wrapped around them.

"Coach Villetta wasn't all bad at first," Shirley continued to narrate, "but before long she decided that she didn't like me. I had no idea what I did wrong, and I tried my best to make it up to her. But that only made things worse. When Lulu asked me if something was wrong, I wanted to tell him, but-"

Cognitive Villetta lashed her whip, knocking the diary out of Lelouch's hands, silencing Shirley's voice.

"It's enough that I have to put up with such a needy girl," Cognitive Villetta spat. "But what's more annoying than anything is her false modesty. She acts embarrassed whenever anyone brings up her crush on Lelouch, even though everyone already knows. I'm glad I was able to put her in her-"

Cognitive Villetta didn't get a chance to finish her speech, as Lelouch furiously ripped off his mask to summon Matador, who swiftly cut her to pieces. Cognitive Villetta's soulless black voids simply stared at him for a moment, and then she dissipated into dark wisps, which were absorbed back into the diary. Once again, it seemed more substantial as Lelouch bent down to pick it up.

"I was sure that we were going to have to fight her again," Arthur said.

"Be glad it was just a Cognition rather than a Shadow," Kallen told him.

"There's no reason a particularly strong Cognition couldn't be as dangerous as a Shadow," Leila said quietly.

"That was your teacher?" Euphemia asked. "What was her Shadow anyway?"

"Leviathan," Lelouch replied, clenching a fist at the memory.

xXx

Eventually, the Black Knights reached the hold of the ship, which was lined with towering piles of barrels, boxes, sacks, and other cargo on each side. It brought about a sense of foreboding since they all knew they were well below the water line, and water leaking from Shirley's cabin was already starting to trickle down the steps behind them. With the small leaks that had already been open in the hull of the ship, the bottom of the hold was now filled with several inches of water, which would only continue to rise. In some places, water dripped from the ceiling where there were gaps between its planks, creating the impression of rain, and reminding Lelouch all too strongly of the day that they attended the funeral for Shirley's father. Fittingly enough, as they waded through the hold, Shirley's diary spoke one more time.

"Everything's fallen apart!" Shirley's voice said tearfully. "Why is Lelouch going out with Kallen? She had sworn she wasn't interested in him, but I knew that it was all a lie!" Her voice turned ugly. "Why can't Kallen be the one who's dead and not my father?!" Shadow Shirley raged through the diary. "Now Mom's the only one I have left!" She paused. "Still, there is a silver lining to all of this," she said deviously. "I knew Lulu would feel sorry for me when I threw myself into his arms after everyone else had gone, begging for him to comfort me. I didn't care that I was practically forcing myself on him…. When he kissed me back, for a moment, everything was perfect. And then my other self had to ruin the moment!"

"What the hell, Zero?!" Kallen shouted. In a moment, she had grabbed his collar with one hand, and in the next she slapped him across the face with the other. "Simply having feelings for Shirley too is something I can forgive, but going behind my back and two-timing with her? You had better have a good explanation for this, Zero!" The fist that had slapped him was now drawn back into a fist, ready to punch him if she wasn't satisfied. Truly, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"Shirley looked like she was about to fall apart," Lelouch said, his cheeks still stinging where Kallen had struck him. "At the time, I thought that rejecting her would have only made things worse." He shook his head as he hung it in shame. "It wasn't one of my better decisions. Not only did I upset you, Queen, but Shirley herself was wracked with guilt, because she knew that it was wrong for both of us. That was the only time anything like that happened, and I deeply regret it. That kiss, paired with discovering that we were Black Knights, doubtlessly pushed Shirley over the edge once added to everything else she had been going through."

Kallen's fist flew past him, enhanced by the strength of her Persona, punching a hole in a barrel behind him. Retracting it, she looked at it, trembling.

"What's with me?" Kallen frowned. She shook her head. "Everything used to be so simple, but now I…"

"Don't apologize, Queen," he told her, reaching over to gently wipe a tear from her cheek. "You did nothing wrong. I'm the one who wronged both you and Shirley. Now let's just finish our mission."

Kallen seemed to be at a loss for words, but after a moment, she nodded.

Before anyone could say anything else, the diary that they had been carrying suddenly glowed, and became fully solid. Flipping through the pages in a safe room adjoining the main hold, Lelouch was surprised to find that the diary was actually hollowed out in the middle, and that a key was now concealed within it, one that clearly hadn't been there before.

"I think this is it," he told the Black Knights. "We should be able to use this to gain access to the Student Council room, and hopefully Shirley."

"If I may, Zero," Leila spoke up, "we would be ill-advised to do so right now. We have covered a tremendous amount of ground in the Palace today, even with the heightened security level, but many of us are running low on energy for summoning our Personas. We would be at a severe disadvantage if we had to fight Shirley's Shadow, Medjed, or both. I would suggest that we withdraw for now, rest, and then extract her and her Treasure from the Palace tomorrow."

"Wait," Euphemia said. "Don't we need to send a calling card to her before her Treasure will fully materialize?"

"That's right," Milly frowned. "Shirley's still trapped in the Palace, so we can't-"

"We'll prepare the calling card tonight and bring it with us into the Palace," Lelouch said, cutting her off. "Once we find where Medjed is keeping her, we'll hand Shirley the calling card in person."

"Will that even work?" Arthur asked.

"I don't see why not," Lelouch said simply. "Whether Shirley receives the calling card from us in the real world or in the Metaverse, it should affect her Cognition enough to let us steal her Treasure and put an end to her nightmare."

Resolved, the Black Knights quickly took one last around the hold for anything they could use, knowing that they would not have the opportunity to explore it again. In the back, there were large chests, of the sort that pirates or conquistadors of old liked to store their ill-gotten gold and silver in, and there was another Treasure Demon hidden in one them, just as they had found the Queen's Necklace in the jewelry store in the Black King's Palace. But then they made their exit, returning to the real world to rest and prepare for the next day's heist.

Lelouch did not sleep well that night.

 **Days Until Shirley Drowns with her Palace: 3**

 **A/N:**

 **Shirley's Palace is more front-loaded with dungeon-crawling than the other Palaces, because with the life of someone so close to him in danger, Lelouch would likely drop everything to save Shirley, just as he's done so canonically for other characters in the anime (such as Kallen or Nunnally). There's also the fact that the sinking puts the Black Knights on an accelerated timetable, so they don't have the luxury of taking their time. Confidants for this arc will take place after they clear the Palace.**

 **But next up, the heist, and the showdown with Shadow Shirley and Medjed!**


	38. The True Self

"Welcome back, Trickster," a most unwelcome voice said within Lelouch's dreams. There his jailor was, his bulging eyes all but leering at him with mixed interest and disguised contempt. "You have made impressive progress infiltrating this latest Palace. To explore almost an entire Palace in a single day is no small feat. But as determined as you are, take care not to neglect other areas of your rehabilitation for too long." Igor was playing the role of a mentor, but Lelouch knew better than to trust his motives at this point.

"In your haste to conquer your friend's Palace, there is a new ritual for strengthening your Personas that I was unable to share with you earlier," Igor continued. "From now on, you will be able to execute Personas at the gallows to impart their power and experiences to another Persona of your choice. Now, choose a Persona to sacrifice," Igor commanded imperiously, leaving no room for argument, at least not without provoking his wrath.

Playing along, Lelouch selected the Treasure Demon that he had captured in Shirley's Palace. It wasn't viable as a combat Persona, so he couldn't think of a better use for it.

"An excellent choice, Inmate," Tsu told him. "That Persona will grant the recipient a great deal of power."

"Which Persona shall receive power from this sacrifice?" Igor asked.

Seemingly unbidden, the answer was on his lips. "Mermaid."

"You do not yet have a bond representing the Lovers Arcana," Igor told him. "This will limit the amount of power received. Do you still wish to proceed, Trickster?"

Lelouch nodded.

Shi and Tsu seized the ghostly Treasure Demon, forcing it into a large sack made of blue velvet, tightly wrapping it chains so that it could not escape, before dragging it up the steps of the gallows that had appeared in the center of the Velvet Room. Shi tearfully helped slip the noose around its neck, and then Tsu activated the trapdoor beneath it. The Treasure Demon fell several feet before it abruptly stopped as the chain that served as the rope ran out of slack. There was a sickening crunch, in spite of the apparent lack of bones in the Treasure Demon's body, and after swinging lifelessly back and forth for a moment, it burst into blue and violet light, which rushed to where Mermaid was waiting at the side. There was a flash, and Lelouch felt the Treasure Demon's power become one with Mermaid.

"The sacrifice has been successfully absorbed into your chosen mask," Igor informed him.

"I feel stronger than ever now," Mermaid told him. "With this new power, I can protect you, and those you care for."

Indeed, Mermaid had acquired a powerful ability: Marakukaja, a spell that would not just blunt incoming attacks against one of his allies, but it would protect all of the Black Knights within a wide radius. He still would never allow himself to trust Igor's motives, but the demonstration was sufficient to prove the efficacy of the gallows as a means of fortifying his Personas, and would be sure to exploit it going forward.

"Tsu, summon the Queen's Necklace and sacrifice it on the Gallows," he said. "I want to see what other abilities Mermaid here has hidden within her."

"Unfortunately, Trickster, that will not be possible," Igor said, a demented grin on his face as always.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch asked.

"Your Persona needs time to acclimate to its new power. If it were to receive another such influx of power in so short a time, it would be destroyed as well. You may strengthen another Persona at the gallows if you wish, but you will have to wait at least a day before it is safe to strengthen Mermaid again."

Lelouch grimaced, but it was hardly the first time Igor had deliberately withheld critical information that should have been shared with him from the start.

Frustrating as that was, Lelouch took the opportunity to fuse new Personas while Igor had him captive there. There was Isis, an Egyptian goddess draped with golden wings, who drew upon the power of his bond with Leila and offered complete protection from both bless and curse spells. He also fused Kelpie, a minor Shadow he had encountered long ago in Mementos, with Principality, the green-robed angel Shadow from Shirley's Palace, to create Phoenix, which drew upon his bond with Sayoko. Phoenix specialized in healing and nuclear spells, but more importantly, it was able to inherit the ability to resist brainwashing. Somehow, he had a feeling that Shirley's Shadow might just try to charm him, just as how Azazel had once brainwashed Kallen, Milly, and Leila.

The Velvet Room's bell rang.

"It is time for you to return to the real world," Igor told him. "But beware, Trickster. The trial before you will test you like none that you have faced thus far."

Of course, short of a cryptic warning, Igor didn't say anything else useful before he faded from view.

xXx

"Our objective: rescue Shirley from Medjed and steal her Treasure so that we can heal the distortion in her heart," Lelouch said to the assembled Black Knights outside of the Clubhouse on the Sinking Ship of Lust. It was much lower in the water than the day before, and the bow of the ship, where Shirley's cabin was located, had started to tilt forward into the sea. "The route between the Student Council room and the Treasure is unknown, but we'll have to press onward until we find it. At this point, we should expect that the Palace's ruler will not let us take her Treasure without a fight."

"What do you think Shirley's Treasure is anyway?" Euphemia asked softly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Milly asked. "It's got to be something related to-" She froze. "Oh no," she whispered.

"What is it?" Kallen asked impatiently.

"Do you remember what Shirley's diary said about the man she would really love?" Milly asked. "Such a person must be the most precious thing in the world. Doesn't that sound exactly like a Treasure?"

"I had surmised that too," Leila said quietly. She nodded slightly at Lelouch. "He, or rather something related to him, is her Treasure."

He was Shirley's Treasure?

"Think about it," Leila continued. "Treasures are objects that symbolize the root of a person's distorted worldview. Shirley's love for you became distorted, and gave rise to this Palace. Therefore, you are inextricably linked to her Treasure."

That reasoning was sound but…

"If I'm Shirley's Treasure, then why didn't the Palace collapse as soon as I left it the first time? How could it sustain itself before I arrived?" Lelouch demanded.

Leila shook her head. "It's not your physical person that is most likely her Treasure. When your friend felt that she had lost everything else, what did she have to hold onto, which she would treasure above all else?"

Euphemia's eyes widened. "No…. Are you saying…"

"It's her memories," Lelouch said, not making eye contact with her or the other Black Knights. "Specifically, her memories of me. Isn't it, Bishop?"

"We can't!" Euphemia protested. "Changing hearts is one thing, but if you steal her memories, then-!" She became too choked on her words to speak further.

"All of our previous targets were emotional wrecks after we stole their desires," Milly frowned. "Are we really prepared to do the same thing to Shirley? Will that really make things better for her?"

"We have no choice!" Lelouch hissed back. "If we don't, Shirley's distortion will only continue to fester and-"

"Then why didn't you steal Jeremiah's desires, Zero?" Kallen interrupted.

"What does Jeremiah have to do with this?"

"Back then, we worried that Jeremiah's desires were going to fester into a full-fledged Palace when you didn't take the germ of his Treasure. But Jeremiah reformed… well, somewhat. He's still loyal to you beyond all reason, but he's no longer the Purist bigot that he once was. If he can change, then why can't Shirley?"

"I'm proud of you, Queen," Milly said. "If Zero were to steal her memories, then you would lose your main competitor for him, but you rise above that to do what you know is right."

"It was never about her and me!" Kallen replied testily.

"Her distortion is greater than Jeremiah's though," Arthur frowned. "Can we really change her heart without stealing her Treasure?"

"It's all moot until we find her Treasure," Lelouch said, clenching his fist to steel himself. "Now let's save Shirley!"

xXx

Sure enough, the key that they had found concealed within Shirley's diary opened the door to the Student Council room.

They were however unprepared for what they found within.

The floor of the Student Council room had fallen away, revealing a raging sea beneath it, which could not logically occupy the same space as the rest of the Palace, at least not in any sort of Euclidean geometry. Then again, Palaces, and the Metaverse as a whole, operated more along the lines of dream logic than anything else. Half-submerged shipwrecks and flotsam roiled about, and the Black Knights had to leap from wreck to wreck to traverse the room. Shadows serving Princess Shirley were out in force too, making their passage even more perilous.

But soon, they came to an island, and atop it there was a structure that was unmistakably the chapel from the real Ashford Academy. The echoing sound of wedding bells could be heard from within. Alongside it, there was a small wrecked ship that had run aground. Its cabin was a safe room, and they found shackles and discarded packages of food and empty water bottles littering a corner. Stacked in another corner were enough provisions to last two people for two weeks.

"This must be where Medjed was keeping Shirley prisoner," Lelouch snarled.

"Wait…" Kallen said. "This place was locked behind the Student Council room door. How then did Medjed get in with Shirley?"

The Black Knights exchanged glances. There were no comfortable answers to that question.

xXx

The chapel was filled with masked Cognitions. At the far end of the chapel, in front of the altar, there was a princely groom, masked like the others but with distinctive black hair, and at his side was his bride, with unmistakable straight crimson hair.

Of course. The Black Prince's wedding wasn't to Shirley. That wasn't how the story went. The Prince married the Temple Maiden, who was herself a princess, breaking the Little Mermaid's heart.

To Shirley, Kallen was the Temple Maiden, who had stolen her happy ending from her.

Cognitions of the other Student Council members were there too. Cognitive Milly was practically dangling off Cognitive Lelouch, and Cognitions of Leila and Euphemia hovered near him as well.

"No… why are you making me watch this?" A despairing but familiar voice cried. "Isn't it enough that you've kidnapped me and brought me who knows where? I just want to go home!"

"You needn't wait any longer, Miss Shirley Fenette," a male voice beside her said. He clapped several times. "At last your friends, the Black Knights, are here, and much sooner than expected!"

"Medjed!" Lelouch shouted angrily.

There he was, near the altar, tightly holding Shirley in his grip. Surprisingly, Medjed appeared to be about his own age, though his hair was silver, falling in several bangs in front of his face. His eyes could not be seen, for he wore a visor over them, and he had a long, light blue linen shirt in a Chinese style, though at a glance it seemed almost like a lab coat. He must have been wearing an undershirt, for maroon sleeves could be seen covering his arms, and he had brown gloves on his hands. He also wore a short jacket on his shoulders with a high collar that matched his linen shirt, though it almost seemed like a short cape.

"That's right!" Medjed grinned gleefully, clapping several more times. "But now that you're here, you may call me Mao… not that it would mean anything to you, Lelouch Lamperouge. Oh yes," Medjed/Mao smirked. I know all about you. Next to her, you're the star of the show in Miss Fenette's little tragedy here!"

"Lulu?" Shirley said weakly, straining against Mao's grip. "Is that really you?" She looked like she hadn't slept in several days, and she was dirty and disheveled, no doubt from the squalid conditions Mao had kept her imprisoned in.

"Don't do anything reckless, Shirley," Lelouch called to her. "We'll get you free of him!"

"Are you sure it's not free of you?" Mao laughed. "But why would she want that? You should know by now, Lulu. She wants you here so that you can join her in death!"

"No! That's not true!" Shirley cried miserably, as she buried her face in her hands, as if she could drown Mao's words out, or avoid having to see Cognitive Lelouch's wedding to Cognitive Kallen.

"Why drag Shirley into all of this?" Lelouch demanded.

"I am Medjed, the Smiter of the Wicked!" Mao declared maniacally. "Not only is she a wicked girl, but she must answer for her father's crimes."

"Her father was a geolo-" Milly started.

"LIES!" Mao erupted in rage. "Let me tell you a story. I was born in the Chinese Federation. I was desperately poor, like everyone in my village. I did what I had to in order to survive. Then one day, there was word of a special job, in Area 11. I leaped at the chance. But from there, I was drugged, strapped in a straitjacket, and shipped of to a laboratory in the Narita Mountains, where I was treated as a human guinea pig for six years!" Mao glanced down disdainfully at Shirley and tightened his grip on her. "Miss Fenette's dear father was one of the scientists leading this project. Code-R they called it."

"No, you're wrong!" Shirley protested. "My father-"

"Shall I tell you how the other test subjects screamed, Miss Shirley Fenette, when the experiments failed and their minds collapsed on themselves? Of the tortures I was subjected to, your father just standing by and watching, occasionally making a note on his clipboard? And what did I get for it?" Mao snarled. "My life was stolen from me, and in its place I was given a power that I did not ask for."

"That's no reason to kidnap Shirley!" Kallen shouted back.

Mao ignored her. "But in that moment, when I awakened to my new power, I at last realized my purpose. The world is wicked, but I was to be the white knight of justice and smite it with the hammer of righteous judgment! None of you are free from sin!"

"He's absolutely insane!" Arthur exclaimed.

"Indeed, he is," Leila agreed.

"None of that justifies what you've done!" Euphemia cried out.

"Oh, but it does!" Mao replied. "This girl is one of the worst sinners in all of Tokyo, a wicked witch who embodies the Deadly Sin of Lust! And then there are the Black Knights, false messiahs who spread their own perverted justice yet by targeting the few leave the masses in denial of their own complicity, and guilty of the Deadly Sin of Pride in thinking that they have the right to play God and change the hearts of others."

"My, my, everyones's finally here!" Shirley's voice rang out, but it was distorted.

It was Shadow Shirley.

Her dress, or lack thereof, was exactly as before, and she appeared in between the two groups, the Black Knights on one side, while Mao and Shirley were on the other.

"Who are you?" Shirley stammered at her doppelganger. She blinked her eyes and shook her head. "No! None of this real! You only exist in my nightmares!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Shadow Shirley asked, stepping closer to the real Shirley. "I'm you. I'm your Shadow."

"Everything is as we arranged it, Princess Shirley," Mao said in an oily manner.

"What?" Lelouch asked.

"Oh, Lulu, I'm afraid you're being rather slow," Mao said, his words filled with malice. "When I first stepped foot in this Palace, the Princess tried to eliminate me, just as she would any other intruder. But I've always had a way with words. I persuaded her that I was more use to her alive, and that I could deliver the hated Black Knights to her."

"You don't want to suffer any more, do you?" Shadow Shirley asked the real Shirley, now inches away from her. "I know exactly what you're going through. You know that you should turn in the Black Knights because they killed our father, but you can't do it, because in spite of everything, you're still in love with Lulu."

"I…" Shirley murmured, before averting her gaze from her Shadow.

"Look at me," Shadow Shirley said, her voice growing threatening as she grabbed her real self's face, forcing Shirley's green eyes to stare into her supernatural gold ones. "Not only are you wracked by guilt by not brining our father's killer to justice, but because you like Lulu even more now that you know that he's a Black Knight."

"What?" Shirley asked, panic on her face.

"I've always been attracted to bad boys," Shadow Shirley said, practically moaning as she started rubbing herself suggestively. "Lulu was the biggest rule breaker at Ashford Academy, and now I know he's the most wanted rebel in Area Eleven! Mmmm, it gets me so turned on! Just look how dashing he is with that mask! Isn't he the prince we've always dreamed of? It practically gets me wet with excitement!" Shadow Shirley laughed. "Of course, you couldn't just admit that to yourself. You needed an excuse to justify it to yourself, so you told yourself it was because you wanted to reform our Lulu! What a joke!"

"No!" Shirley cried. "She's wrong!" She looked pleadingly at the Black Knights. "You can't think I'm like this!"

"Oh, this is juicy!" Mao laughed, clapping loudly. He wasn't even bothering to hold onto Shirley now, who had collapsed to her knees in shame. "You would turn to the Black Knights, who killed your dear father, for affirmation?"

"We didn't kill him!" Lelouch shouted.

"Then who did?" Shadow Shirley shouted back, her golden eyes flaring.

"We don't know for sure," Milly started, "but-"

"Liar!" Shadow Shirley screeched. "I said it before! You're all liars!" She glared hatefully them for several moments, but then her expression softened.

"Still, Lulu," she said, "I can forgive anything. And as devastated as I was by my father's death, it doesn't matter if I can have you. So please, Lulu. Hold me. Kiss me. No matter what, I will forgive you and love you for eternity. Where others might betray you, with that promise, I can be the one thing that is truthful to you. All that I ask is that you love me for real in turn. So step away from Kallen and the others, and be mine forever. We can repent for our sins together, and live on in heaven. Or maybe we'll be reborn, and fall in love with each other all over again! Doesn't that sound wonderful, Lulu?"

"I'm here to save you, Shirley," he said. "I didn't come here so that you could throw your life away."

"It's because you're with Kallen, isn't it!" Shadow Shirley seethed. She sighed. "I didn't want to do this, Lulu, but…"

Shadow Shirley turned back to her real self and conjured a knife with a blade of razor-sharp coral. Seemingly unnoticed by either of them, Mao had started to take several steps back, which filled Lelouch with a sudden sense of foreboding.

Shadow Shirley placed the knife in her real self's hands, which began trembling at once.

"Wh-what am I supposed to do with this?" Shirley stammered.

"Why, kill Kallen and Lulu with it," Shadow Shirley explained as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "If you don't do anything about these feelings, they will eat way at you until you strength leaves you and you dissolve like foam. This way, you can end things on your own terms. I perfectly understand you like no other can. Like me, you are a poor, unfortunate soul, and I am you."

Mechanically, Shirley took a step forward, her eyes darting back and forth between the knife in her hands and Lelouch.

"Don't do this Shirley!" Lelouch told her. Don't let her trick you! If murder is a sin, then this absolutely increases the sin!"

"Oh, I like the rhetoric, very pithy!" Mao hooted, clapping in the distance.

"I'm not tricking her!" Shadow Shirley snarled. "I am her, and she is me!"

"No!" Shirley shouted, suddenly turning, and driving the blade into her Shadow's side. The Black Knights, especially those on the Student Council, gasped. None of them had imagined Shirley to be capable of such violence.

"You would try to kill me?" Shadow Shirley laughed as blood leaked from her wound. "Of course you would! I'll kill anyone who would harm my Lulu! Even myself! That's why I have to die!"

"Stop it!" Shirley cried. "You are not me, you wicked sea witch!"

"Ohhh…" Shadow Shirley moaned as red and black energy converged around her. "This power! It keeps building up, more and more! With this much power, I can at last be my own self! Farewell, little mermaid," she said mockingly.

"This is bad!" Leila shouted. "Her Shadow's drawing in an enormous amount of power from her! We've never seen anything like this! If it keeps up she'll-"

Leila didn't have a chance to finish, as Shadow Shirley had completed her transformation, and knocked Leila and the other Black Knights back as she unfurled her wings, producing a powerful blast of wind.

"I am a Shadow, the true self," Shadow Shirley declared. In her transformed state, Shadow Shirley looked exactly like the real Shirley, except she had an angelic pair of white wings that had sprouted from her back, and she was wearing black bondage gear, with one strip of leather across her breasts, one across her waist, and one around her hips. Another strip went down the middle, starting from a collar around her neck, where a chain was fastened, going down between her breasts and extending to cover her nether regions, and presumably up along her spine. Completing the look was a black blindfold that completely covered Shadow Shirley's eyes and most of her face, with the symbol of an eye etched in the center. "I want to be with you forever, Lulu," she continued. "So won't you die with me?"

"This is totally off the script!" Milly cried.

"No way!" Shirley gasped, petrified in fear by her Shadow's sudden transformation.

"Let us repent for our sins!' Shadow Shirley said, raising her hands wide and to the heavens as spears of light appeared in the air above Shirley.

"Shirley! No!" Lelouch shouted, diving toward her without a second thought. Catching Shirley with one arm and forcing her to the ground, he ripped off his mask with his other hand. "Isis!"

The spears of light erupted over them, but thanks to Isis' protection, both of them were unharmed.

"Lulu…" Shirley blinked, her cheeks flushing red as they were close enough to kiss. "You…"

"Not now, Shirley!" He urged her hurriedly. "Get back and let us deal with this!"

Already the other Black Knights had sprung into action to give Shirley time to retreat to safety with Lelouch. Guren Jigoku flew toward Shadow Shirley, its golden claw outstretched, but Shadow Shirley held out a hand, conjuring a large spear from above.

"You'll pay for stealing Lulu! Die!"

The spear plunged down and struck Guren Jigoku in the shoulder.

"Ugh!" Kallen groaned as a deep wound opened in her own shoulder.

"Noire, heal her!"

"Right, Zero!" Euphmemia cried. "Eilonwy! Diarama!" At once, Kallen's wound closed up, though Kallen clutched it as if it still ached.

"Thanks! I'll try to be more careful!"

"Mermaid! Marakukaja!" Lelouch called out. Purple light flashed around his allies, surrounding them with defensive spells.

"Don't think it will be that easy!" Shadow Shirley shouted as she held out a hand. Lelouch could only look on in disbelief as she effortlessly dispelled the protective enchantments he had cast with a spell of her own.

"Surprise!" Milly called out, as Medea blasted Shadow Shirley from the side, singeing her wings with flames.

"P-pervert!" Shadow Shirley screamed.

"Don't forget about me!" Arthur called out, darting in below her. "Master Cat! Garula!" A powerful gust of wind fanned the flames.

"Arthur, you too!?" Shadow Shirley scolded, wrapping her wings around herself to smother the flames.

"Jeanne d'Arc! Psio!" Leila called, striking Shadow Shirley with psychokinetic energy.

"Who do you think you are?" Shadow Shirley seethed as she launched another counterattack.

"That's not me, that's not me, that's not me…" Shirley muttered again and again to herself. "Please, Lulu… help me!"

Assessing the situation, Lelouch could see that the battle was not going well. While the Black Knights had scored several solid hits on Shadow Shirley, she seemed to be growing more powerful by the second. And at the same time, the real Shirley was getting weaker.

At that moment, Lelouch knew what had to be done. Shadow Shirley wasn't a foe that they could defeat conventionally, at least not as things were. It was a part of Shirley, the part of her that she denied, and her rejection of her Shadow was giving it power.

"Shirley, look at me!" He told her, taking hold of her.

"No, why won't you look at _me_ , Lulu?" Shadow Shirley demanded.

Lelouch barely managed to rip off his mask in time. "Phoenix!" In the next moment, a pink mist surrounded him, and for an instant, Shadow Shirley seemed absolutely radiant, a goddess to whom he owed his devotion, who was to be protected no matter the cost. But Phoenix helped him fight back against the brainwashing, and when he felt the real Shirley quivering in fear at his side, its effects vanished like a dream.

"Nice try!" Kallen shouted as Guren Jigoku charged Shadow Shirley again, nimbly darting from side to side, keeping the Shadow occupied as her attention turned to the Persona that was both the immediate threat and the embodiment of her rival's other self.

"Shirley," he said, trying to speak as calmly as possible. "That thing is a part of you."

"No it isn't!" She sobbed.

With an exultant cry, Shadow Shirley forced Guren Jigoku to retreat, launching spears of light at Kallen's Persona rapid-fire.

"Don't you see, Shirley? Whenever you reject it, it gets a bit stronger. It's feeding off of you!"

"But- What can I do Lulu? How can I? If that thing's really me, then…"

"Then you can beat it! Only you can, Shirley!"

"But… don't you hate me now? All those things it said… I'm so sorry, Lulu! I'm an awful person!"

"Ugh!" Shadow Shirley reeled, turning her attention back to her real self. "That's right! Who could love me now? Besides, I'm so boring next to Kallen, Madam President, or those other beauties in Lulu's harem. What can I do next to them?"

"That's not true!" Lelouch shouted at the Shadow. He turned back to Shirley. "You're a member of the Student Council, Shirley, and our friend. We all have our inner demons, but no matter what, we'll all be there for you, Shirley. You don't realize how precious your smile, your laughter, your kindness is to all of us… to me."

"Lulu… But how… you're Black Knights… my father…"

"I don't want to see the truth!" Shadow Shirley raged. "It hurts too much! Can't we close our eyes, pretend none of this ever happened, and go back to how things were?"

"Her Shadow's weakening, Zero!" Leila called out.

"Keep it up!" Milly cried.

"I'm sorry that we hid so many things from you, Shirley. I didn't want you to get caught up in any of this. As for you father, I swear that we didn't kill him!" He hung his head. "But we might as well have. If he really was working on Code-R, he was probably killed to cover it up after we stole Prince Clovis' heart and made him reveal the project's existence. I'm sorry, Shirley. I had no idea that would happen."

"But my father was kind… How could he work on something so horrible…?"

"I can't say for sure that he really was part of Code-R. But there's only one way to know… and that's to seize the truth with our own hands, by finding the real killer. Why did you think we killed your father?"

"Because the news said…" Her eyes widened.

"Our enemy controls a third of the planet, including the press. It was easy for them to control the narrative."

"How could I…" Shirley murmured.

"Don't act like you're ignorant of what's around you!" Shadow Shirley sneered. "You see perfectly clearly what's going on in society, yet you act like it doesn't concern you, all so you can continue to enjoy your own comfortable life untroubled by the suffering of others. Oh, you'll reach out to be friendly to Suzaku, but you see injustice stretching out before you whenever you look past the boundaries of the Settlement, yet you say and do nothing about it."

Shirley took a deep breath.

"You're right."

"What?" Shadow Shirley gasped.

"Lulu…" Shirley said, meeting his eyes. Nodding, he helped her rise to her feet. Leaning on him for support, she met her Shadow's blindfolded gaze without flinching.

"You weren't lying," Shirley said. "I love Lulu more than anything in this world. More than anything, I wanted him to love me in turn. When I saw him going out with Kallen, it tore my heart in two, but I couldn't stop loving him… not even when I thought he had killed my father. That lust for love inside my heart filled me with envy, hate, and despair. I was frightened by what I saw in myself, and so I tried to pretend that it didn't exist. Desperate to make sense of my father's death, I believed a lie. And I knew that how our society allows others to be treated is just wrong, yet I turned my eyes from it because I told myself that there wasn't anything that I could do to change it. But that's not true at all. Lulu proved that himself. That's why I fell in love with him. So I won't avert my eyes anymore! How can I be the one thing truthful to Lulu, if I'm not even true to myself?"

"Seeking the truth will bring you pain," Shadow Shirley said, faltering. "Even if you can be true to yourself, you will have to live a lie before others! Is that what you really want?"

"Everyone wears a mask, Shirley," Lelouch told her. "We do it without thinking about it, to fit into society. How is this any different?"

She nodded. "The Black Knights fight to protect the weak, don't they?"

"Yes."

"If that's the world you're trying to create Lulu, I can stand by your side without regret." She laughed lightly. "Even if you don't feel the same way about me that I do for you… just being there with you will be enough."

Shadow Shirley's form shimmered, no longer the berserk angel, but the witch who had been the doppelgänger of the little mermaid. Any bitterness in her expression was gone, and she smiled gently at Shirley.

"Then make this vow to me."

Shirley nodded.

"I am thou… thou art I," Shirley and her Shadow said in unison. "Though thou shalt don a facade to face life's hardships, thou shall be above all true to thyself. Thy love shall be thy power eternally, even if it leads to hell itself."

Shadow Shirley vanished and suffused Shirley with light.

Lelouch felt something resonate within him as well.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Lovers Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

"Did she…." Kallen whispered.

"Shirley! That was incredible!" Milly cried joyfully, running over to her.

"Well done!" A mocking voice shouted, throwing in some claps for good measure. "I haven't seen anyone conquer their own Shadow like that before! Normally, they destroy themselves! Very impressive! Of course, this leaves me with a problem. I had thought your Shadow would be enough to kill the Black Knights, but it looks like I'll have to deal with you myself!"

"So that's the real reason why you kidnapped Shirley!" Lelouch snapped, turning to face Mao. "You kidnap people, drag them into their Palaces or Mementos, and wait until their Shadow appears! Most people wouldn't be able to accept their Shadow without help, and so they're killed by it."

"That's right! You really do have a big brain, Lulu, one that Miss Fenette laments for you not using to its fullest! Isn't that right, Miss Fenette?"

"I'm not going to let you control me any more, or hurt my friends!"

"Your friends are exhausted from fighting your Shadow. I'm surprised you can even stand yourself. I may be outnumbered, but mopping you up shouldn't pose much of a challenge. After I kill you, I do need to deal with those Irregulars… they broke out of the same lab as me when I shifted into the Metaverse, but they couldn't see things my way, and now it seems they've taken to copying yours. I can't have that."

Another group of Persona-users? Lelouch had been so preoccupied with rescuing Shirley that he had overlooked something as important as that?

"Oh yes, they changed their first heart just a few days ago. You didn't hear about it? What a shame. Now you never will." Mao clutched his head, his expression contorting in agony.

"Momus!" A demonic jester rose overhead, connected to Mao by chains, and rushed toward the Black Knights…. only to be thrown back by a sudden gust of wind that swirled around Shirley.

"It's my turn to protect you! Maid Marian!" she shouted.

Blue flames wreathed Shirley, and when they had vanished, her Ashford Academy uniform had disappeared and been replaced by a new outfit. She wore what looked like a black version of the swimming club's one piece swimsuit, with a coat suspiciously like Zero's draped over her shoulders and matching red gloves on her hands. Her legs were clad with thigh-high, high heeled black leather boots, and her mask resembled the blindfold that her Shadow had worn just minutes before, but now with holes cut in it for her eyes. Above her rose Maid Marian, dressed in light blue and with a matching veil over her hair, though hints of burnished copper, just like her summoner, could still be seen. In Maid Marian's hands there was a large bow, which she now aimed at Momus, and a quiver of arrows was slung over her back.

"What? You little brat!" Mao snarled, losing his composure.

Maid Marian fired three times in quick succession, staggering Momus and leaving Mao momentarily defenseless as his damaged Persona dissipated.

Lelouch didn't hesistate. "Launch an all-out attack! Now!"

"With pleasure!" Kallen and Milly cried, joining the other Black Knights as they pummeled Mao into submission.

"Ugh…" Mao groaned, bloodied and bruised all over. It seemed several of his bones had been broken. Shirley stood over him, a sword drawn and pointed at his throat, though her hands were trembling.

"How can you have so much potential?" Mao snarled. A moment later, seeing that he was still alive, his expression changed to a malicious smirk. "What's the matter? Can't do it, Miss Shirley Fenette?"

It would be so easy. With just a word from him, Shirley would kill Mao, and Medjed's menace would be finished forever.

It would be the pragmatic decision.

But even after everything, he wasn't going to ask Shirley to become a killer.

"You relied so much on using other people's Shadows to do your dirty work, you barely learned to fight with your own Persona," Lelouch sneered. "You're not worth wasting our time on. Let's go."

"Don't think this is over!" Mao called behind them. "You pay for this, Shirley and Lelouch! This ship will still be your grave!"

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Arthur asked.

"Oh, right," Lelouch said. He retrieved the calling card from within his coat and handed it to Shirley. "This is for you."

"To Shirley Fenette," she read, "the great sinner of Lust. To save you from yourself, we will steal your heart and take your distorted desires without fail. Signed, The Black Knights." It was admittedly a less elaborate calling card, but it did the trick, for something materialized on the altar… a box filled with portraits of Shirley and Lelouch enjoying happy times together at Ashford Academy.

"So her Treasure was her memories of Lelouch after all," Euphemia whispered.

"You're not going to…" Kallen started.

Lelouch hesitated. It would be a simple matter to destroy Shirley's Treasure, incinerating the portraits with Agilao. That would eliminate the source of Shirley's distorted desires as certainly as stealing the Treasure. The Black Knights might object, but they wouldn't be able to stop him in time. Without her memories, she would forget all about his involvement in the Black Knights. It would keep her safe, but….

It meant that he would lose her…

Could he really…

Shirley placed her gloved hand over Lelouch's.

"It's okay, Lulu." She smiled. "You've already stolen my heart."

Shirley's Treasure would remain untouched.

xXx

The Black Knights, plus Shirley, began to work their way out of the Palace. The Shadows seemed less coordinated, as if they were confused by the sudden disappearance of their ruler. They moved from one wreck to the next, and were almost at the Student Council room door…

"Momus! Maeiga!" Mao's voice shouted out. The Black Knights took cover as Mao's curse rocked the wreck they were on, threatening to capsize it. Impossibly, he had followed them, seemingly driven on by nothing but hate.

"Stop it!" Shirley shouted.

Mao laughed. "Why? I have you at my mercy!" He clapped slowly, though it clearly pained him to do so. "Any last words?"

Shirley's eyes widened. "Look out!" She suddenly cried out in alarm. "Behind you!"

"As if I'd fall for-"

A Shadow had come up behind Mao, a Pisaca specifically. It grabbed him with its long arms and started trying to pull him into its hideous maw.

"What! Unhand me!" Mao shouted. "I am Medjed! I shall smite you! Momus!" Furiously, Momus fired a spell at the Pisaca, but to no effect, other than causing the wreck they were on to pitch violently. Cursing, Mao resorted to fistcuffs, and tried to throw the Pisaca off of him, only for both to plunge into the icy waters below.

Shirley gasped. "Is he?"

"What you did was noble," Leila said gravely.

"But better him than us," Lelouch finished. "Let's go."

xXx

At last, they left the Palace behind them, and returned to the real world. At once, Shirley slumped, the adrenaline of her awakening and escape wearing off.

"I feel tired…" she said. "Lulu, I think I'm going to…"

She collapsed limply in his arms.

"Shirley!" Frantically, he checked her vitals. She was still breathing, but she seemed weak.

"Quick! Someone! Call an ambulance!"

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter is an extended homage to Persona 4, much as the fourth Palace of Persona 5 was.**

 **Shirley's Shadow transforms into an Angel because when the Mermaid dies in Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, she becomes a Spirt of the Air. SMT's angel frequently uses wind spells, and moreover, is associated with the Grigori, who were said to be punished for committing sins of lust with the humans they were supposed to watch over. Shirley also gets plenty of angelic imagery associated with her in canon, and the blindfold represents her willful blindness to the truth of her society, or at least her unwillingness to act on it at first.**

 **The actual fight went somewhat differently than I originally envisioned, but I'm still satisfied with how it turned out in the process of writing it.**

 **Shirley's thief outfit is based on Kasumi Yoshizawa's from Persona 5 Royal. Kasumi and Shirley are both athletes, and it is suggested that Kasumi highly admires Joker, to the point where she based her image of rebellion off of him. Likewise, Shirley based her image of a rebel off Lelouch, and so her thief costume borrows elements of his own outfit (which is the same as Joker's in P5), so naturally Shirley's thief outfit would be very similar to Kasumi's. I was originally planning to make Shirley pure support, like Futaba, but I realized that she actually has more potential physical talent than most of the other party members (save Kallen) at the moment, so her actual role will be more hybridized in battle. That said, she will still get some powerful buff skills.**

 **Maid Marian is intended to reflect Shirley's perception of a thief as "one who protects the weak", being the love interest of a thief best known for stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.**

 **Don't expect another chapter for at least a week or two; things are going to be busy. I only got this one done so fast since I was really looking forward to the fight with Shadow Shirley.**

 **Edit: Slightly extended Shirley's speech where she accepts her Shadow, to better connect some ideas together.**


	39. The Sleeping Beauty

"It's a good thing you called for the ambulance when you did," Lelouch heard the doctor saying. "She was suffering from internal bleeding, but we were able to stabilize her and then go in and repair the blood vessels. Your friend is very lucky. If her injury had been just a bit over, it would have hit an artery." The doctor paused. "It's almost as if she were stabbed," he muttered to himself, "but there's no entrance wound."

Of course. When a Persona was damaged, the injury was generally reflected on the Persona user's body. Lelouch had understood that Personas and Shadows were fundamentally the same, given how he could turn captured Shadows into new Personas, but Shirley's Persona was unequivocally her personal Shadow, or it least it had been. The only difference was that instead of denying her Shadow, Shirley had acknowledged and made peace with it, and in doing so transformed it into her guardian, a Persona. But even when it was a Shadow, it was still a part of her, and by stabbing it she had done violence against herself. He supposed that since she hadn't yet attuned herself with her Shadow, the extent of the damage had been limited. But she could have died-

No… It was worse than that, Lelouch suddenly realized. If Shirley had actually succeeded in killing her own Shadow, she would have destroyed a foundational part of her own psyche. Could the human mind continue to exist without its unconscious desires, which controlled so much of its behavior from the shadows? It couldn't. Shirley would have…

It was almost too terrible to imagine, but the conclusion was inescapable. Shirley would have inflicted a mental shutdown upon herself, and from what he had seen of Clovis, it was a particularly agonizing and gruesome manner of death.

The doctor was saying something about how medical advances would ensure that Shirley would be left with virtually no scarring from the procedure that had saved her life. Across from him, Shirley's mother was tearfully asking when her daughter would awaken, but Lelouch knew that it wouldn't be a question that the doctor would be able to answer. Shirley may have narrowly avoided a mental shutdown, but paired with the exhaustion that usually accompanied awakening to one's Persona, the strain had caused her to slip into a comatose state shortly after exiting the Metaverse. To those ignorant of the other world and Cognitive Psience, there would appear to be nothing wrong with Shirley now that the bleeding had been stopped.

Shirley lay there in the hospital bed, still save for the slight rising and falling of her chest, unperturbed by the noisy beeping of machines around her, continuously monitoring and displaying her vital readings. Her eyes were peacefully closed, and her lips almost seemed to form a gentle smile, with her face framed as ever by her beautiful coppery red hair.

His heart clenched. He had come so close to losing her, first at the hands of Medjed/Mao, then at those of her Shadow, and then at his own, when he had considered destroying her Treasure to keep her from getting involved further. It would have given Shirley back a normal life, but she would have become a stranger to him. Was it just selfishness on his part? No, the others had been against him doing so from the start. But now… what if destroying someone's Treasure instead of simply stealing it away would have a similar effect upon them as killing their Shadow and causing a mental shutdown in the process? He could have killed Shirley himself. Of course, there was no way to be sure of that, which of course meant that actually destroying her Treasure would have been an unacceptable risk. At least, that was what he told himself. Either way, he would have to live with the decision and whatever consequences it may have.

At least they had been able to deflect the most awkward questions about Shirley's disappearance for now. She had of course been reported as missing; that was not something that the headmaster would or could cover up. When asked how they had found Shirley, he had said that they seen her wandering back onto campus in a state of distress before finally collapsing. Of course, the police were sure to question Shirley once she was awake, and it could be a problem if Shirley said something that contradicted his story, but on the other hand it would be easy for Shirley's testimony to be dismissed. Her condition would lend her plausible deniability; it would hardly be unusual for an awakened coma patient to have some amount of memory loss. But would Shirley think to use that lie?

Lelouch grimaced. All this ruminating was getting him nowhere. No matter how much he ran through every possible scenario in his head, he was powerless to help Shirley until she awakened, and there was no telling how long that would take. Leila would probably tell him to have faith in Shirley, but Lelouch knew that prayer was a futile gesture in an uncaring world.

He still couldn't help but silently pray for Shirley though.

He shook his head. Wallowing in self-pity like this was absurd. Besides, he was one chained to hell itself. That was what Arsene had said when they forged their contract. If there even was a god, it certainly wouldn't be a friend of his.

As he stood to leave, Shirley's mother looked up.

"I know I've said it already, but I want to thank you again for helping my daughter. If you hadn't called an ambulance for her, my Shirley might have died." Mrs. Fenette choked up. "Losing my husband was bad enough… but I don't know what I would do if I lost Shirley too."

"I would have done the same for anyone," he told Mrs. Fenette. He chose not to mention what Mao had told him about the true nature of her husband's work. Not only would he have no way of knowing that information if he was an ordinary high school student, as he pretended to be, but Mrs. Fenette could have been just as ignorant of it as Shirley had been, and to bring it up now would be pointless cruelty.

"You're too modest. You know, Shirley spoke a lot about you. She really thought you were the one for her. With how much she complained about you breaking rules or skipping classes to go out gambling, I wasn't sure, but I see now that you are, if nothing else, a true friend to my daughter." She paused. "But it's more than that, isn't it? You didn't just call the ambulance for Shirley, you -".

Mrs. Fenette's eyes widened slightly, and she promptly cut herself off. "No… I shouldn't ask that. What matters is that my daughter is safe and should recover." Unsaid, but communicated by her gaze was, 'You will keep her safe, won't you?"

Impossible! Did she realize who he was? Did she have any sort of proof? If she thought he was a Black Knight, shouldn't she hate him for killing her husband, just as Shirley had believed he had? Or did she simply sense there was more to him than being at the right place at the right time to save Shirley's life?

But in the end, he decided that it didn't matter, as long as Mrs. Fenette didn't talk about whatever she might suspect.

"Indeed," he agreed.

xXx

"How is Shirley?" Kallen asked, waiting outside.

"They've stopped the bleeding, but Shirley is still in a comatose state. They don't know when she'll wake up, though their prognosis remains hopeful, given how well she's doing elsewhere."

Kallen grimaced. "A coma… That's worse than I thought. Are you okay, Lelouch?"

"I will be."

"Then you're not." She scowled. "Listen, Lelouch. We need to talk."

"Not here."

"Fine. But don't think you're slipping away until we've talked."

Some time later, the two of them were in Mementos, standing in the safe zone at the top of the escalators that led down into the labyrinth of dark tunnels where Shadows lurked.

"What did you want to talk about, Queen?" Lelouch asked.

"Don't play dumb, Zero. You know exactly what I want to talk about," Kallen replied irritably.

"Shirley."

"That's right." Kallen sighed. "I didn't want to say this in front of the others, but I think I know why her Shadow bothered me so much… and not just because I felt threatened by her."

Lelouch looked at her curiously. This was not at all the direction he had expected the conversation to take. He had thought that Kallen would give him another verbal lashing for his indiscretion with Shirley at the funeral, or how he couldn't go on loving both of them, and had to fully commit to one or the other or call it quits with her. And so, slowly, he ventured, "How so?"

Kallen swallowed. "Because her Shadow was too much like me."

"I don't understand." Kallen and Shirley were so different in temperament that it was difficult to see them as similar to each other.

"She loved you beyond all reason, even when she thought you had killed her father, and said she would forgive you of anything! And I…" Kallen averted her gaze for a moment, before forcing herself to meet his again. "Back when I was fighting with my friends in the resistance in Shinjuku, everything was so simple. I would fight Britannia, and die trying to avenge my brother's memory. Then you came along, and I fell in love with you! But I never realized just how much that had changed me until I saw Shirley's Shadow! Avenging my brother or freeing Japan was no longer what was most important to me. It was being at your side! I mean, we're still fighting to free Japan, but somewhere along the way, you had turned my world upside down before I even realized it."

She took several moments to collect herself. "I knew of course that I wasn't the only one in your heart. There's Nunnally, and you can't be faulted for doting on your sister. But I thought that I had the rest of your heart. But when I heard that you also loved Shirley…. Firstly, why did Bishop have to bring that up right then and there? Nothing good could come it! Well, maybe she wanted you to be honest with yourself, but did she stop to think how I would feel at hearing that? She's really smart most of the time, but sometimes she's really lacking in common sense! Probably because she grew up pampered as a noble! I may technically be a noble now, but I at least had a normal life out in the real world before my father adopted me into his family!"

Kallen sighed and shook her head. "I'm getting off-topic. That doesn't matter right now. What does matter is I felt like I was being torn in two when I heard you say that you were in love with Shirley too. But…. That's exactly what she went through, isn't it? No… it was even worse for her. She didn't even get to hear that at least she had some of your heart! All she knew was that the guy she had crushed on since freshman year had rejected her obvious affections and chosen me instead! Is it any wonder that she formed a Palace of her own? And just like her… no matter how much it hurt, I found I couldn't hate you for it. I'd even let myself be dragged down into hell with you if it meant I could continue to stay by your side. Seeing that for myself scared me."

Kallen frowned, casting her eyes down. "You call me Queen, but I became no better than a slave to you. Not that I should be surprised. My mother became my father's servant after all… It runs in the family," she finished miserably.

"Kallen…" he whispered. Using her code name right now didn't seem appropriate.

"I'm sorry to dump all of that on you at once," Kallen said, taking deep breaths to calm herself. "But if Shirley could accept the weak and ugly parts of herself in front of everyone, what would it say about me if I couldn't do the same, at least with you?"

"Don't apologize, Kallen. It's better that you let it out instead of letting it fester inside of you. But don't call yourself a slave."

"It's true!"

"I would never think of you as a slave, Kallen. Your convictions are far too strong for that." He chuckled wryly. "More than anyone on the Black Knights, I'd trust you to stand up against me if I ever lost my way and became the very thing I set out to oppose."

"Don't joke like that! But you think too highly of me. As long as you still loved me, I would still follow you in spite of everything. If that's not being a slave, then what is?"

"Then I guess I'm the fool here."

There was an awkward silence between them. Finally, Kallen broke it.

"So where do we go from here?"

"We wait for Shirley to recover."

"And then?" Kallen pressed. "Do you plan on having her join us as a Black Knight?"

"It's not my decision if she joins us or not… but I think that she will."

"And what about us?"

"I would be honored to continue to have you by my side. But I would understand if you wanted time away from me or to break off our relationship if you have any lingering doubts about my sincerity or commitment to you."

"That's not fair, Lelouch. After I spilled out everything a few minutes ago, you know that I'm not going to leave you. Shirley's not going to be happy about it though," she added as an afterthought.

"We'll cross that bridge after she awakens."

xXx

"You're back late, Inmate," Tsu said, stretching out on his bed.

"Would it kill you to stop calling me 'Inmate' while you're here? This isn't the Velvet Room, and my maid already thinks you're some sort of dominatrix that I hired," Lelouch said, slightly shuddering at the thought.

"But you remain a prisoner of fate, whether here or in the Velvet Room. Thus calling you Inmate is appropriate."

Lelouch sighed. "Stubborn as always. Though there is a question that's on my mind, one that I can't ask the Nose."

"Stealing my nickname for him? You truly are a thief, Inmate." She shrugged. "If you didn't want him to know there's something you don't want to ask him, you shouldn't have mentioned it at all, Inmate. Didn't I tell you? He remains quite interested in you, and watches you like no other human. But if you still want to ask, I won't stop you from doing so, foolish as it may be."

"Igor said long ago that he granted the Metaverse Navigator to those who had the potential to become Tricksters and avert Ragnarok, along with those who might help then as fellow thieves."

"Yes. What of it, Inmate?"

"There's no way Medjed could have brought Shirley into the Metaverse unless he had the MetNav himself. That means Igor gave Medjed the app, just as he gave it to me, and to Kallen's brother before either of us."

"Your point?"

"Medjed tried to kill us and Shirley! It's not just Medjed either. The assassin who is causing the mental shutdowns and framed us for the deaths of Clovis and Shirley's father must also have the MetNav. Either that, or there's another way to enter the Metaverse that he hasn't seen fit to share with me."

Come to think of it, there was another who must have received the Navigator from Igor, or else her presence in the Metaverse was inexplicable: Leila. But Kallen's brother had the Wild Card, and while Mao was an artificial Persona user, it seemed that Momus was of the Fool Arcana as well. Leila didn't fit into that pattern. Her Persona belonged to the Priestess Arcana, and thus would not qualify as one of Igor's Tricksters, but she had been able to enter Clovis' Palace on her own. She had mentioned something about seeing butterflies and hearing a woman's voice too, which was akin to his own awakening. He didn't sense any deception from Leila, but the facts surrounding her didn't add up. He was missing something.

"You're not wrong," Tsu said, interrupting his thoughts. "There is no way as convenient for entering the Metaverse as the Navigator, which is the Nose's creation. However, it is possible that Cognitive Psientists working for your enemies might have managed to artificially produce their own version of the Navigator. It wouldn't be the first time that humans have tried to trespass in the realm of the gods."

Lelouch gave her a strange look. "The realm of the gods?"

"In words that you might understand, the Collective Unconscious, where the dreams, desires, fears, and souls of all humans originate from, and to whence they return. In turn, the shared Cognition of humanity gives rise to the gods that they worship, as well as those that they condemn as demons. It's gone by many names over the years. Akasha… C's World…"

"The Metaverse?" Lelouch asked. "Mementos?"

Tsu let out a light laugh. "Do you honesty believe that the realm of the gods is a dingy old subway? The Metaverse is but a construct overlying yet apart from your world, made in twisted mockery it. Both owe their existence to C's World, which underlies and predates both realities.

Igor had never mentioned such a thing. Of course he wouldn't. This conversation was turning out to be surprisingly illuminating.

"You said the Metaverse was a construct. Do you know who constructed it?"

"I-" started, but she faltered, and clutched her head as if she was in physical pain. "I…. I can't remember…" she gasped. "Please…"

It was just like when she had suffered nightmares. Something had happened to her in the past, and now Lelouch was certain that whoever had done this to Tsu didn't want him to find out the answer to his question.

He had a good idea as to who might be responsible though.

"Not a word of this to anyone," Tsu snarled at him as she recovered.

"I wouldn't dream of it."

xXx

"You never cease to impress me, Trickster," Igor said that night in Lelouch's dreams, making no mention of his earlier conversation with Tsu. "Not only did you overcome your friend's Shadow, which emerged to kill you and herself, but you have forged yet another bond as well. Tempered by adversity, you have grown strong faster than I would have thought possible. That is not something easily done. If you continue to proceed at this pace, your chances of a successful rehabilitation are most hopeful, Trickster. You really may be the one who will stop Ragnarok." The Master of the Velvet Room paused. "And so this marks a turning point in your journey, Trickster. If nothing is done, Ragnarok will occur before the year's end."

That got Lelouch's attention. For once, Igor was being less vague than usual.

"What exactly is Ragnarok?" Lelouch asked.

"It is the twilight of the gods and the ruin of mankind, brought upon by foolish pride and humanity's impulses for self-destruction," Igor replied, immediately dashing Lelouch's hopes for anything but a cryptic answer from his jailor. But then, Igor's demented grin spread wider than usual. "It may interest you to know that your father is the one driving the world toward Ragnarok."

At once, Lelouch vividly recalled the vision he had upon making his contract with the mysterious voice and then Arsene.

"Distortions in the cognitive world….So Ragnarok begins once again?" The memory of his father's booming voice echoed in his mind.

Lelouch clenched his fist, but at once he recognized what Igor was doing. It was a blatant attempt at emotional manipulation, trying to get him to reflexively go along with whatever Igor had planned out of hatred for his father, and diverting his attention from other questions that needed to be asked. To be fair, anything that his father supported was most likely something worth opposing, but Igor having a common interest with him in his father's downfall hardly made the Master of the Velvet Room his friend. Beneath the guise of a mentor, Igor had already shown himself to be every bit as tyrannical as his father, so Igor could be nothing but his mortal enemy.

"Your father's Palace is extraordinarily well-protected," Igor continued. "If you were to challenge him now, he would… what is the phrase, Tsu?"

"Squash you like a bug," she replied, while her younger sister cringed.

"Ah, yes." Igor turned his attention back to Lelouch. "He is far too powerful for you to pose a meaningful threat to him at this moment, Trickster, but since you have already come this far, I am sure that you will rise to the challenge. Continue as you have been doing, Trickster. Hone your skills, stealing the hearts of the sinful and stirring those of the indolent masses. But before you go, let me bestow another boon upon you: the High Arcana Burst." Igor held out a hand, and Lelouch felt stronger than ever.

"With my blessing, your bonds will provide even more power to the Personas that you create here than before," Igor explained, even as Lelouch felt the power of the Fool grow stronger in turn.

Igor might be his enemy, but sometimes one's worst enemies were one's best teachers. And like the other boons Igor had bestowed upon him, he planned to exploit this one to the fullest.

xXx

Exams began the following morning and would last for three days. Lelouch felt exhausted from three consecutive days in Shirley's Palace, not to mention all of the futile excursions to Mementos before that, but he still tried to do his best on the exams. It was uncharacteristic of him, yes, but it would be worth the effort if it helped raise his standing with his confidants, slightly increasing his powers in turn. More importantly, if his grades were to suddenly drop significantly below the Bs that he usually maintained for himself, it might look suspicious, attracting the wrong sort of attention to himself.

The tests were long, but they didn't feel particularly difficult to Lelouch, even in his state of exhaustion. All things considered, he was amazed at how smoothly the first day of examinations went after actually after he actually put in some effort to study for them.

He visited Shirley's room at the hospital again after exams were done for the day. She was still sleeping peacefully, and he was heartened by the fact that her readings weren't any worse, but he couldn't help but worry about her.

He tried to take his mind off things with more studying when he returned to his room, but his exhaustion finally caught up with him, and he fell asleep at his desk. This in turn led to another bizarre dream involving Arthur, except the cat had inexplicably assumed a human form, a handsome black-haired young man with an androgynous appearance, not entirely unlike his own. In the dream, Arthur was putting the moves on Milly, who was dressed in her own cat costume, much to Rivalz's dismay.

The next days' exams were for the most part uneventful. If anything, they seemed even easier than the first day's exams had been, now that he had finally had some proper rest. However, he did see something unusual as he was walking across the grounds toward the academy's gate. Nunnally was accompanied by a girl he hadn't seen before, a blonde girl about the same age of his sister and dressed in the same junior high school uniform, who wore her hair in twintails and had red eyes. She looked friendly enough, and Nunnally didn't seem to mind her presence, but Lelouch couldn't help but feel anxious. Looks could be deceiving, and he had to do his best to look out for Nunnally at all times.

"Nunnally, who's this?" he asked as he approached them, trying to sound casual.

"Big brother?" Nunnally asked, looking up in his direction. "This is Alice!" she said happily. "She only transferred in a few weeks ago, but we're already good friends!"

Lelouch grimaced slightly, though of course Nunnally couldn't see it. That Alice was a transfer student only made him more suspicious. It was the perfect cover to bring in spies, as Rolo had used for himself. However, he kept that to himself. It wouldn't do to distress Nunnally, let alone make a potentially slanderous accusation against one of her classmates, particularly one whom she seemed fond of on such a flimsy basis. Even he had to admit to himself that he had no concrete evidence that Alice was anything but a normal student, though he made a mental note to look into her background when he found some time to spare.

But the public announcement that evening of Carine ne Britannian's change of heart at the hand of a group calling itself the Glinda Knights made it so that Alice was the least of his worries.

He couldn't say that he had liked Carine. She had always been mean to Nunnally back when they were in Pendragon together. But to think that there was yet another group changing hearts, this time in the capital of the Empire itself? Why were so many teams of Persona-users coming out of the woodwork now? Part of him wanted to think it had to do with his successes, but another part of him worried.

Were they all pawns of Igor? Might his jailer divulge his secrets to them in the Velvet Room? And what would it mean if Igor was more successful in manipulating them than himself?

xXx

Answers seemed to fly off his pen and onto the page on the last day of exams. There were one question on the physics test that he wasn't entirely sure of; perhaps he would have to study with Nina next time. But there was no question that he had passed his exams with flying colors.

But the pride he felt at his performance was nothing compared to the relief of Shirley finally waking up.

It happened when he was visiting her in the hospital after school. He was quietly talking to her, small talk about how exams at gone at Ashford, and conveying the wishes of all of her friends on the Student Council to her. He was sure that she couldn't hear him.

But then, she stirred.

Shirley's beautiful green eyes fluttered open.

He was the first thing that she saw.

Shirley blinked several times. "Lulu?" she asked softly. "Is that really you? I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"Shirley! You're awake!" he said, bolting to his feet and to her side.

Shirley raised her hand, a bit unsteadily at first, and tightly clasped his.

"It is really you," she said, beaming. Her expression faltered. "So everything that happened… that was real too, right?"

"Yes", he nodded.

"It almost seems too incredible to believe, Lulu, but… you saved me… and you saw everything. But it's kind of liberating… I can finally be honest with myself… and with you."

 **A/N:**

 **As different as Shirley and Kallen might seem at a glance, they are similar in the degree of their devotion to Lelouch, and while not explicitly stated, I think that's pretty clearly shown in canon. That's not to say that there won't be tension between the two of them, but it does provide a basis for understanding and for them to work together without tearing the team apart.**

 **Focused on setting the stage for things to come in this chapter. Rest assured, Lelouch will get some more time with his other confidants in the next chapter.**

 **Thanks for reading! I'll be back in another week or two.**


	40. Suspicion

Lelouch did not have as much time to talk with Shirley after her awakening as he would have liked. The doctors came running in to check on her, and as he had predicted, the police were eager to ask her questions about her disappearance. He didn't get to stay with Shirley while she was being interrogated, though evidently the police left frustrated that she claimed not to remember much about the incident. That was a relief

Though she had regained consciousness, Shirley would still have to remain at the hospital for another day or two. The doctors wanted to continue to observe her while she continued to rebuild her strength. Fortunately, there was every indication that she would make good progress.

As he got ready for bed, it was hard to believe that it had been only a week since the calm of Tanabata, with entering Shirley's Palace, Medjed's challenge, fighting Shirley's Shadow, her subsequent hospitalization, and exams all one after the other. But in his singleminded determination to save Shirley, it had been some time since he had spent time with his confidants. It wouldn't do to neglect them further. His powers depended on the strength of his bonds with others, and a bond could always fade, especially if unattended to.

But which of his confidants should he visit first?

"I guess the Oni has to let me go now," a voice echoed in his mind. "But I come here from time to time. I hope I'll see you again soon!"

Kaguya.

Other than Shirley, the Sumeragi heiress was his newest confidant, and she only knew him from two chance encounters. The faint bond that they had formed at Tanabata would be the first to fade if he ignored her. And there were other potential advantages to meeting with her… political advantages, of course. Perhaps through her, he could come into contact with other leaders of the Japanese Resistance.

There was no guarantee that she would be at the shrine tomorrow, but it was worth a try.

xXx

"The Oni came back!" Kaguya smiled, running over to him. She was dressed similarly to how she had been at Tanabata, suggesting that it was her usual manner of dress and not simply worn for the holiday. "I was starting to think you had forgotten about me," she pouted. "Don't you know how to keep a date?"

"Firstly, this isn't a date," Lelouch said in annoyance. "Even if it was, you never gave me a specific time to meet with you. "Besides," he said, giving her his best wicked grin. "Since when does an Oni follow human rules?"

"You remembered!" Kaguya cried in delight. "That's what you asked me when we met in the woods all those years ago."

He had? She gave him too much credit.

"Anyways, what do you want with someone like me, Lady Kaguya? Surely you know that we're both too old for make-believe things like oni."

"You're no fun! Why do I have to want anything from you?"

"Because someone like you wouldn't survive as the head of one of the Six Houses without growing into a shrewd politician. You get others to underestimate you by playing up what they perceive as youthful naïveté and flights of fancy, and then you outmaneuver them before they've even had a chance to realize their error."

"You make it sound so sinister."

"It's in your namesake. Kaguya-hime, the princess of the moon who deceived five mortal princes with impossible tasks."

"That's right!" She said cheerfully. "And she was one of the most renowned beauties in Japan!"

He had been wondering why his bond with Kaguya was represented by the Sun Arcana, rather than the Moon Arcana, as would have befitted her namesake. But it was clear to him now. Kaguya Sumeragi simply radiated energy. Yes, she hid devious intelligence behind that sunny expression of hers, but the upbeat young girl before him was the real Kaguya Sumeragi as well.

"So I ask again: what is it that you want from someone like me, Lady Kaguya?"

"You don't need to be so formal," she said, drawing uncomfortably close to him. "Or would you prefer that I call you Prince Lelouch?" She said, dropping her voice to a private whisper. "I know these days who was kept at the Kururugi Shrine before the war, and who the Oni of my childhood had to be."

"Don't go saying things like that out loud," Lelouch bristled. "Besides, I renounced that title years ago."

"No one can hear us," Kaguya replied. "The only people around at the moment are my bodyguards, and I ordered them to stay at a safe distance. They won't come unless I call."

"You make it sound like you were expecting me." He eyed her intently.

"Tell me, did you stake out the shrine every day, waiting for me," he asked slowly, "or did you choose just this particular day?"

"Just today. You would be in school during the week, and we ran into each other a week ago to the day, so if you were going to return, it would be today."

"Very astute of you. It appears I allowed myself to underestimate you as well." Was he letting himself become too trusting of people? Of course, if she meant to harm him, she probably would have done so already. "So now what? Do you intend to whisk me off to Kirihara? If that's the case, I won't resist. I wouldn't mind meeting with Kirihara again after all these years."

If he knew Kirihara, the old man would listen to him, and be willing to lend his support to the Black Knights, which would enable him to expand the scope of his rebellion. It would however be problematic if she brought him before the other leaders of the Six Houses instead of Kirihara. They wouldn't know him as well as Kirihara would from his days at the Kururugi Shrine, and as such would immediately distrust him as an exiled Britannian prince who was supposed to be dead. They might seek to use him as a bargaining chip, or worse, decide he was an unacceptable security risk and silence him themselves.

The others wouldn't be happy if they knew he was taking such risks, and so soon after they had berated him for going into Shirley's Palace alone.

"Oh… so that's what you're after," Kaguya pouted. "What do Kirihara and those other stuffy old men have that I don't? Half of them dress up in fancy suits, and the other half is so stuck in the past that they let so many opportunities slip them by! 'This isn't the right time… Patience, Kaguya'," she said, imitating as masculine of a voice as she could, though her youth worked against her. "They talk about things as if I can't understand them!"

"Then you have to make them understand. If their rules are holding you back, then break them. Make it so that they can't ignore what you have to say."

"Like an oni!" Kaguya said, her eyes lighting up.

"If you must put it that way."

"Well, I suppose I could arrange for you to meet with Kirihara," Kaguya said after a moment's consideration. "But you have to do something for me first."

"And that something is why you were waiting here for me in the first place."

"That's right!"

"What are your terms then, Kaguya?"

"Come walk with me! I want to know more about you! And if you know how my cousin Suzaku is doing," she added quickly. "You were his friend, back at the Kururugi Shrine, weren't you?"

"Yes… I was."

"Then you're not still friends with him?" Kaguya asked, giving him a piercing look.

That wasn't true! He still got along fine with Suzaku… well, except whenever the topic of the Black Knights came up… then….

"It's complicated," he replied.

Kaguya nodded. "Indeed." While Kaguya was undoubtedly an Honorary Britannian herself, at least on paper, to know that her cousin had enlisted in the military of the country that had invaded her homeland certainly put her in an awkward position.

"Did you know that I was once engaged to Suzaku?" She asked quietly. "It was to be a political marriage. That we were cousins didn't enter into it. The marriage was supposed to solidify the alliance between the Sumeragi and the Kururugi families. I used to treat Suzaku horribly…. It was probably because I resented being forced into a marriage when I thought I didn't have a say in it.". She frowned. "But he came for me, on that day in the woods, after you had left me in disgust… Not that I blame you. I was an awful, conceited person back then. I decided I would try to be nicer to him. And then…."

"The war," Lelouch finished.

Kaguya shook her head. "Listen to me, going on about such gloomy things!" She grabbed his arm excitedly. "Let's go!"

Lelouch knew he wouldn't be escaping her clutches any time soon.

xXx

It was late when he finally extricated himself from Kaguya and her seemingly boundless energy, so he retired to the Clubhouse.

He was less than pleased to see that Shi was there with Nunnally again.

Lelouch didn't have anything against Shi herself. The younger green-haired attendant was just a child at heart, and had none of her sister's spitefulness, nor Igor's deceit. In of herself, Shi could hardly be considered a bad influence on Nunnally, short of innocently repeating something that Tsu had told her. But her presence was nonetheless disconcerting. It made him wonder… did Shi have a deeper interest in his sister, besides having a friend to play with? An interest possibly involving the Velvet Room?

No, that was absurd! Even if she could somehow access the Metaverse, Nunnally wouldn't be able to fight! She was blind and crippled! If she was ever to get dragged into it by mistake and run into Shadows, then she… The thought was too terrible.

More than anything, Medjed's kidnapping of Shirley had shattered illusions of safety at Ashford Academy. If Medjed could effortlessly abduct her, who was to say that the mysterious Black Mask couldn't do the same to Nunnally? Sayoko was one of the best bodyguards he could ask for to protect his sister, given her background, but even she would likely be hard pressed against a Persona-user as soon as the fight moved to the Metaverse, especially one as experienced as the Black Mask, who had been causing mental shutdowns long before Lelouch had ever set foot in the Metaverse.

Or even…. No, Medjed/Mao was dead. There was no way Mao could have survived being pulled under that freezing water, injured as he had been. But now the fact that he hadn't actually seen Mao die started to gnaw away at him. He was getting soft. He should have killed Mao when he had the chance, but he had been too concerned about Shirley and what his fellow Black Knights would think instead of doing what needed to be done to ensure his sister's safety.

Then there was Alice… he knew he was probably being paranoid, but he still couldn't help but be suspicious of her. Diethard was running checks on her even now, as was Jeremiah. It hadn't taken much to persuade the media man, and Jeremiah's loyalty him had never been in doubt. Mao had mentioned that the Code-R lab had been located within the Narita Mountains, and they knew from Shirley that her father had supposedly worked as a geologist in a lab near Narita. Given that her father had been presumably killed by the Black Mask, it would be logical to assume that Mr. Fenette's co-workers had been eliminated as well. While it was a certainty that anything of value at the laboratory had already been removed, Diethard had leaped at the lead, and graciously didn't ask questions about where he had come by the information. He was also thankful that neither Diethard or Jeremiah had asked why he was so interested in the background of a junior high school girl.

"Lelouch?" Nunnally asked, a hint of worry in her voice. "Is that you? Is something wrong?"

Nunnally must have heard him come in, but he had been so lost in his thoughts that his failure to greet her must have unsettled her.

"No, Nunnally, nothing's wrong," he lied. "Did Shi come over again?"

"That's right! Shi says she's never had a slumber party before, so I was wondering if she could stay here tonight."

Shi nodded. "Big sister Tsu says the beds here are much more comfortable here than in that room."

Nunnally cocked her head in her brother's direction. "Lelouch?" She frowned. "What did I say about two-timing?

"We've been over this before. Tsu and I don't have that sort of relationship."

"But she visits you all the time," Nunnally pressed.

"She's a confidant, no more and no less," he replied.

"Confidant?" Nunnally asked, her suspicion of him clearly only growing.

Damn! He had meant to say "friend", but "confidant" had slipped out. He had to change the subject!

"It's nothing, Nunnally. As for your earlier question, I see no reason why she can't stay over." As wary as he was of the idea, it wouldn't be wise to refuse, or else Tsu might decide to get back at him for upsetting her sister."

Nunnally and Shi both seemed happy, but he had a feeling that his sister didn't fully believe him.

Soon, the three of them were in Nunnally's room. Shi had borrowed an older set of Nunnally's pajamas and was sitting next to her on the bed.

"Ummm…" Shi said nervously. "Mr. In-" She paused, correcting herself. "Mr. Lelouch? Could you read Miss Nunnally and I a story?" She averted her eyes. "The only book in the room is the Compendium, and I…"

That was right. Shi couldn't read.

How could he say no to her?

"What do you want me to read?" He asked gently.

Shi froze up, staring at him blankly. Of course…. As one who had never read before, Shi had no idea of what sorts of books there might be, other than the Persona Compendium.

Fortunately, Nunnally came to Shi's rescue.

"Could we read a story about Elizabeth III?" Nunnally asked expectantly.

Lelouch frowned. Elizabeth III was their ancestor, and one of the more controversial figures in Britannian history. She was known as the monarch who lost the British Islands to Napoleon after the defeat at Trafalgar and her subsequent abdication when she was betrayed and arrested by revolutionaries at Edinburgh. But she was also the lover of Duke Ricardo von Britannia,who was the first Emperor of the newly reborn nation of Britannia when she named him as her successor on her deathbed. Nunnally had once read a rather inaccurate book on that romanticized the queen as a tragic figure, and had been a fan of Elizabeth III ever since. To suggest that Elizabeth III might not have been a good ruler, or worse, to bring up the conspiracy theory that she had secretly arranged for Napoleon to be poisoned, was to make Nunnally defensive.

He couldn't read Shi something that would give her such inaccurate ideas. "Maybe a work of fiction would be better as a bedtime story," he suggested. Nunnally frowned. "But if you want something historical, I have an idea." He got up, and returned a short time later with an old book, a collection of short stories. Flipping through it to the desired spot, he read, "The Queen's Necklace, by Maurice Leblanc."

It might not have been what Nunnally wanted, but she seemed satisfied enough just to have him reading to her. It had been too long since they did something like this together. As for Shi, every word he read off the page seemed almost magical to her.

"So he came in disguise to visit the family he'd stolen the necklace from as a boy, and then he returned its mounting to them," Nunnally said thoughtfully.

"To think he was already a Trickster at such an age!" Shi said in wonderment.

"You like stories like this, don't you brother?" Nunnally asked.

"And you don't?"

"I could relate to how everyone overlooked him at the time," Nunnally said slowly. "But it makes me worry about you."

"How so?"

"You admire kaito like Lupin, don't you?"

Kaito? That was the Japanese word for 'phantom thief'. Lelouch looked at his sister curiously. "Did Sayoko teach you that word?"

Nunnally nodded. It was conceivable that Sayoko had used it when Nunnally was asking about the Black Knights as they appeared in the news. But for a moment, Lelouch thought he saw a guilty look cross Nunnally's face. Simply inquiring about them wasn't anything to feel guilty about. Was his sister hiding something from him?

A sudden chill gripped Lelouch. What was with him? Of all people, he was starting to suspect his beloved little sister.

That couldn't be, could it? Once again his thoughts went back to the pinky promise he had made to Nunnally, and the thousand needles they had sworn to eat if they lied. He had reneged on that promise almost immediately, and continued to do so every day that he acted as a Black Knight. Should it come to it, he would accept whatever consequences his choice would bring. But Nunnally… she was the type to buy into ideas like pinky promises a little too much. He had little doubt that Nunnally took her end of the promise very seriously.

What would it take for her to break it?

Shi came to his aid, letting out a yawn. It still seemed odd that a warden of the Velvet Room could get tired in the same way that humans could. But then again, Tsu didn't have any issues with falling asleep in his bed, and she had said that they were indistinguishable from humans in most ways while manifested in the real world. It could well be that Shi really did need to sleep.

In any case, he wasn't going to question Shi when she had given him, unwittingly or not, the perfect means to extricate himself from a conversation that had turned awkward quickly. Saying that it was getting late, he tucked Nunnally and the young warden into bed, and then took his leave of them.

Why had he chosen to read a story about Arsene Lupin to Nunnally and Shi anyway? Perhaps he had wanted Nunnally to understand him a bit better. It wasn't exactly a secret that he had taken a favorable stance on the Black Knights in front of Suzaku or the others. But if she actually made the connection that he was a Black Knight… Suffice to say, it had been foolish of him.

Everything had once been so simple. Nunnally had been his only guiding light when he thought he had lost everything else. Now, he had more friends…. No, not just friends, confidants whom he could trust, not only with his secrets, but with his life. They each had their own reasons for fighting, and along the way, they had become reasons for him to fight as well. But at the same time, he felt lost. While he had never expected rebelling against Britannia to be painless, navigating the web of relationships he had formed around himself brought with it troubles of a far more personal nature, hurting those closest to him in turn.

It was a dilemma. If he had kept his friends at a distance, then most of them would have stayed safe, and Kallen and Shirley wouldn't have to deal with such heartache, and he wouldn't be beset by such confusion. But without his strengthened bonds with them, he would have never have gained the power to come this far, so going back to how things had been was out of the question. What he really needed right now was some advice on relationships, especially those with girls, lest he unwittingly entangle himself in an even more precarious situation than the one he found himself in now. The last thing he wanted was for the Black Knights to be torn apart from within by jealousy and spite.

But who would he talk to? He could rule out Sayoko. She would, as usual, get the wrong idea about everything. Then there was Jeremiah. While he couldn't exactly say that Jeremiah was one to be considered an older male role model, Jeremiah had lived in Pendragon and served as a guard to his mother in a court filled with the Emperor's scheming and jealous wives. Jeremiah might know something that could help him, and certainly would not hesitate to provide counsel for his sworn lord if asked. However, asking Jeremiah would have to wait until he was done checking Alice's background. Who else was there?

There was Leila. She had proved herself insightful time and again. He might even say that she was too insightful. She was part of the reason he was in this mess after all. But maybe she could help get him out of it.

xXx

There was no school the next morning. With exams over, Ashford Academy was officially on its month-long summer vacation. The dormitories would remain open, as many students had family who were either on active duty in the Britannian army, or who were otherwise back in the homeland. The Clubhouse also remained opened year round. Not only was it home to Lelouch and Nunnally, but the Student Council would often meet over the break to organize special trips, events for those remaining on campus, and plan for the fall trimester.

Wandering down to the academic buildings, Lelouch checked the bulletin boards, and saw that the spring trimester's examination results had been posted. Examining the results with more interest than usual, he quickly found his own name. He was one of the top ten highest scoring students in his year. That was what he was capable of when he actually tried. He probably could have done even better, if he hadn't exhausted himself in the Metaverse. Of course, such high marks were a deviation from his past practice of intentionally keeping his grades low, and he had ended up doing even better than he had planned, but one set of trimester exams, even in the top 10 of the class, was by itself very unlikely to lead to discovery by unwanted parties, while it would certainly provide a small but much more immediate boost to the esteem in which several of his confidants held him, which would in turn increase his power slightly. All in all, he was pleased with his performance.

There were some other familiar names among the top ten. Nina came out ahead of him, with perfect scores in science and mathematics, though Lelouch outperformed her in history and literature. He beat Kallen, who was consistently among the highest ranking students in their class, though he supposed appearing studious, to say nothing of her affected frailty, helped maintain the pretense that she couldn't possibly be involved with the resistance. Shirley would usually be among the top ten as well, but due to her kidnapping and subsequent stay in the hospital, she had been unable to take the exams. Doubtlessly she would have to make them up soon after returning to Ashford.

Out of curiosity, he checked the rankings for the seniors. Milly's name was far lower than he expected. She wasn't an exceptional student by any means, but she usually did passably. Yet with scores like those… if Milly were to do similarly on the midterm and final exams, she would fail her classes for the year. Was it because she had let her studies slide since becoming a Black Knight? Or was there another reason?

He met with Leila by the school gate. She was back to wearing sunglasses to disguise her face, given that they were meeting in broad daylight, though she continued to wear her usual hairstyle.

"You wanted to see me?" she asked. "Shall we go to our usual place?" She paused. "Or is it too soon?"

That was right. They had fought Shadow Shirley in the cognitive version of the chapel. Going in there now would only be distracting."

"I agree that a change of location is in order. And to tell the truth, I didn't call to play chess with you today."

"I thought as much," Leila said quietly. She paused. "If you don't want to discuss it here, we could go to my place. It might be more comfortable than the alternatives, and we can be assured of privacy. Even if we are overheard, my staff was very carefully vetted, so they won't repeat anything that they hear to others."

Lelouch nodded. Given that Leila's parents had been spies for Europia, likely for many years, it made sense for them to surround themselves with individuals who shared their anti-monarchial sentiments and now served their surviving daughter. Lelouch knew that wearing a mask all the time could be tiring, especially in one's own home.

xXx

Superficially, Bresigau Manor followed the same pattern as Stadtfeld Manor: a walled compound mounted with battlements, with the actual residence, a four story building constructed in a similar style, behind them. But the two homes were very different if one spent more than a moment looking at them. Breisgau Manor had a pair of concentric walls whereas Stadtfeld Manor only had a single wall, and its walls were made of genuine stone in an authentic medieval style. A handful of towers with square bases rose at roughly even intervals behind the inner wall, and a central keep stood high above and next to the main residence, which had a blue roof. A second, smaller building stood perpendicular to the main structure. Perhaps it was the servants' quarters?

What was certain was that Bresigau Manor was a grander structure than Stadtfeld Manor, a small castle that looked like it had been transplanted from Europe. Was the Breisgau family considerably wealthier than the Stadtfeld family despite their nominally identical ranks? Or had the Bresigaus simply invested far more of their wealth into Area 11?

"It's modeled after my family's ancestral home, Castle Weisswolf," Leila explained.

"That's German," Lelouch replied. "Castle White Wolf."

Leila nodded. "You may recall that my father was Bradow von Breisagu."

"Bradow of Breisgau."

"That's right. It's a region of southwestern Germany, near the French border, along the Rhine and the Black Forest, known for its vineyards and orchards. Before the revolutions in Europe, it was common for Britannian nobles and royalty to arrange marriages with their counterparts on the continent to establish alliances between their families. In doing so, Breisgau became a fief held in vassalage to Britannia." A wistful look crossed her face. "I hear the countryside there is very beautiful, but I've never seen it with my own eyes. While I retain the title, my family hasn't held Breisgau since Napoleon's conquest. My parents recreated much of the look of Castle Weisswolf here in Japan, but I was told that it's smaller than the original castle."

"It's far larger than most people could ever hope to have, Britannian or Japanese."

"Don't think I'm proud to have such an extravagant home when there are countless Japanese people forced to live in squalor," Leila said quickly. "I'm grateful to have a comfortable place to live, but it's not like my noble title is something that I take pride in. Still, my parents understood that keeping up appearances was important, and how better to play the parts of proper Britannian nobles than such a wasteful expenditure?"

"If they really wanted to play the part, they wouldn't have lined the grounds with native Japanese plants," Lelouch said. All around them were cherry trees, wisterias, hydrangeas, irises, and more. "It's practically wearing their hearts on their sleeves."

"They grow well here, and they're pretty," Leila replied. Her lips spread into an almost mischievous smile, one that he was unused to seeing on her. "At least, that's what they told anyone who asked about them."

After a short walk through the garden, they arrived at the front door.

"Welcome back, Mistress Leila," her butler said. He was a kindly looking old man. His eyes widened as he saw Lelouch. "My lady… who is this young man?" he asked.

"This is Lelouch Lamperouge," Leila replied, wisely not disclosing his true identity. Even if she trusted her servants completely, if any of them were ever to be arrested and forced to confess by Britannia, they couldn't tell Cornelia what they themselves didn't know. "He's a friend of mine."

"This is the first time you've brought a friend your own age here," the butler replied. His eyes appraised Lelouch. "Quite a handsome young man too. Is he the one you've been meeting with? I must say, he seems much more agreeable to you than that vain prince."

Leila frowned. "I don't want to talk about Clovis."

"My apologies, Mistress Leila. I forgot myself. Can I get anything for you or your boyfriend?"

Wait. Boyfriend? That was a complication he didn't need. This scene was turning all too familiar. "You've got it all wrong-" he frantically began.

"That won't be necessary," Leila said, distressingly not bothering to correct her butler. "You've been working yourself too hard lately. I can take care of it."

Leila's butler suddenly looked very worried, but he composed himself quickly. "As you wish, my lady. If you require anything, you only need call. As always, I shall be discreet."

Leila's butler departed, leaving her alone with Lelouch in the foyer.

"He's been with our family for as long as I can remember," Leila said. "He's nothing but loyal and diligent in his work, but he seems to think that I can't take care of myself, and that's only gotten worse since my parents died."

"What are you playing at?" Lelouch asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Leila said, looking perplexed.

"First you ask if I love Shirley, choosing the most inopportune time to do so. Now your butler thinks that we're dating each other, and you made no effort to correct him."

"The truth would be too complicated to explain," Leila said defensively. "And I can't fault him for thinking that. It does look that way, from a certain perspective."

"Thankfully he won't talk. But the last thing I need is for Kallen to think that I'm in a romantic relationship with another girl. So don't tell me that you're in love with me too."

Leila frowned. "I wanted you to be honest with yourself," she replied, a twinge of pain in her voice. "It was clear from how you were talking about her that you really cared about her, more than just a friend."

"What of it? Why then?"

Leila firmly met his gaze. "Sun Tzu said, 'If you know others and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know others but know yourself, you win one and lose one; if you do not know others and do not know yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.' You were prepared to rush headlong into that sinking ship to save Shirley without fully grasping the nature of her Shadow, and all of our predictions about the nature of the trap she had set for us turned out to be wrong. At the same time, you didn't fully acknowledge your own reasons for doing so. Unless you stepped back and understood why you were taking such risks, you would continue to behave recklessly, and that could have put everyone else in danger."

"Making me acknowledge that in front of Kallen thew her into doubt. That distraction could have just as easily been fatal."

"I miscalculated, yes," Leila replied. "In retrospect, her reaction was obvious, but I failed to account for that at the time. I know myself, but I still have much to learn about others, so I won one and lost another."

So Kallen had been right about Leila. She had meant well, and could read him easily, but Leila's upbringing had stunted her connections to other people, and so she sometimes lacked tact in dealing with them. Not only was she the daughter of spies, and so had to always be on her guard, but her intelligence undoubtedly had an isolating effect among her peers at St. Lucy's, to say nothing of her status as a noble. People saw that and not Leila herself. Becoming Prince Clovis' supposed girlfriend and subsequently regarded almost as his widow had certainly destroyed whatever chance she might have had, however small, for a healthy social life.

He recalled what Leila's butler had said just a few minutes before. He wasn't just the first boy to visit her home; he was the first friend her own age ever to do so. Euphemia didn't count. Euphy's supposed visits to Leila were simply a pretext for her to leave the government bureau, and the two of them probably met outside the Breisgau Manor or at another rendezvous point arranged between them. They hadn't yet had the opportunity to get to know each other better outside the context of the Black Knights. Which meant that he was…

The only one who she both regularly had contact with outside of her home and could consider her intellectual equal.

"I don't want to come between you and Kallen. Or Shirley for that matter," Leila said apologetically. "In their own ways, they're both remarkable young women, and they're lucky to have someone like you. There has to be some way to work things out between the three of you." Her cheeks flushed. "If I had met you a few months sooner, things might have worked out differently." Her cheeks turned red, and she shook her head. "No, what I mean is… We can still be friends, and play chess together from time to time." She was becoming more flustered, as if searching for a lifeline. "Or maybe we could try shogi," she added hastily. "That's like chess. I have a set here too."

So he had been right. Leila had developed feelings of her own for him, ones she couldn't act on, and he had made her awkwardly attempt to bury them. It was to her credit that she did not seem to bear any ill will toward Kallen or Shirley, and he had no doubt that she would continue to be his confidant, so long as he did not spurn her offer of simply remaining friends. He had no intention of being unfaithful either, but at the same time, Leila needed more than just an occasional match with him. He understood that now.

"You're as much a friend now as any of the others on the Student Council," he told her, "and a trusted confidant besides. I too would miss it if we stopped having our matches. It's hard to find a worthy opponent."

"Thank you, Lelouch," she said softly.

"But you know, Leila, you can only learn so much from playing chess. At some point, you have to get out and experience the world for yourself."

"What do you suggest?"

"I don't think our summer plans are finalized yet, but I'm sure that the others wouldn't mind having you join us. How does being an honorary member of the Ashford Academy Student Council sound?"

"Wouldn't that be too suspicious? Wouldn't there be those who would ask what connection I had with you?"

"If you need a pretext, you could just make a donation to the Ashford Foundation, and we could call you a "Friend of the School", or something like that. You could even transfer in after the summer break if you wanted to. In the end, what others think doesn't matter. You have to think of what's good for you. And what you need are friends who will accept you for who you are. You'll have that at Ashford."

Leila smiled faintly. "You're very kind. I shall think on what you have said."

The power of the Priestess resonated within him, signifying that his bond with Leila had taken another step forward.

xXx

As Lelouch arrived back at Ashford Academy, he received a call from Jeremiah.

"Your highness, I finished making the inquiries that you requested of me."

"There's no need for formality, Jeremiah. What did you find?"

"Officially, she doesn't exist, at least, not anymore. A girl matching her description was reported to have died in a fire along with her younger sister, a paraplegic, several years ago, but records of her cease there . Either you have an imposter with a resemblance to the deceased Alice, or…"

"Someone erased her records…"

Nothing good could come from either explanation. His fears were confirmed. He didn't know for sure what Alice wanted with his sister, if she even was the girl who had been called Alice, but one thing was certain.

Nunnally was in danger.

 **A/N:**

 **This marks a landmark in the story. 40 chapters, over 200,000 words (including the author's notes) and not even one year since the first chapter was published. To think how far this story's come in so short a time, and the mostly positive feedback it has received is always a source of encouragement (but constructive criticism is always appreciated as well). I expect that the pace of updates will be somewhat faster over the summer, so stay tuned!**


	41. Revelations

Lelouch had scarcely finished talking with Jeremiah when his phone began ringing again. With a sense of foreboding, he picked it up.

"Hello, Lulu," a mocking male voice said on the other end. "This is your number, isn't it?"

Lelouch knew that voice.

"Medjed!" He hissed. "Impossible! I-"

"Saw me die?" Mao laughed over the phone, a murmuring sound behind him. "I'll admit, Lulu, you and your Black Knights really did a number on me. Not only did you gang up on me like the thugs that you are and leave me a bloody mess, but that wicked witch who was so helplessly in love with you was oh so devious when she shouted that something was behind me. She had to have known that I wouldn't believe someone as conniving as her!"

"You fell into frigid water! You were being dragged down by a Shadow! You should have drowned, died of hypothermia, or succumbed to your injuries!"

"Fortunately for me, as her Palace began to collapse, a hole opened up in the side of the ship, allowing me to escape."

"You still should have drowned if you were under for that long!" Shirley's Palace didn't collapse right away because he hadn't taken or destroyed Treasure, but her Cognition had changed and eventually spelled its doom, as she no longer saw herself as being on a sinking ship. "Don't tell me. Did your Persona-"

Mao clapped. "Very good, Lulu! Fortunately, Momus allows me to endure what would kill others!" He laughed, but his tone quickly became bitter. "It leaves me a wreck afterward though. Fortunately for me, while that girl's father was busy experimenting on me, he also implanted epinephrine auto-injectors into me, as a failsafe against his most advanced guinea pig dying during the big test and sending all his hard work down the drain. They wouldn't have saved me from drowning in that water by themselves, but they gave me the strength to get back on my feet in spite of the pain. Oh, it hurt like you wouldn''t believe, Lulu! But from there, I just had to blackmail a hospital into giving me the best treatment available, and here I am. Britannian medical science really is amazing!"

"What do you want?" Lelouch demanded impatiently. "You said you'd admit defeat if we could find you and rescue Shirley. But that was a lie, wasn't it?"

"Don't act like you're one to play fair, Lulu. Besides, nothing is owed to the wicked besides righteous judgment!"

"Mao! If you're thinking of harming Shirley again-!"

"That would be boring. She's already spilled all her secrets. But what would your dear sister think if she learned that her beloved big brother was really the leader of the Black Knights?"

"What have you done to Nunnally?!" Lelouch seethed with rage.

"Oh, she's quite safe," Mao sneered. "But not for much longer. I've taken your precious sister into the Metaverse, to a place where no Shadows will interrupt us. You know, it was all too easy. What good is security when I can just bypass it in the Metaverse? Once I was in the Cognitive version of her room, I just had to cross back into the real world, snatch your sister and gag her before she could cry for help, and pull her into the Metaverse with me. I'll be returning to the Metaverse myself shortly. But don't think I'll give you such a generous deadline this time. If you don't face me by midnight, your sister will die. Come alone. Don't you dare bring the Black Knights with you, if you value your sister's life!"

"How do I know that you haven't already hurt Nunnally?"

"You don't, Lulu. But where would be then fun in that? I'll see you soon." Mao let out a last laugh, and then hung up.

At once, Lelouch's mind sprang into action. His only priority was rescuing Nunnally. Intellectually, he realized that his judgment was compromised just as it had been when he had learned Shirley had been kidnapped, and once again he would earn himself a tongue lashing from the other Black Knights for acting on his own, but he would deal with their disapproval once Nunnally was safe.

Of course, he had to find where Medjed had taken Nunnally first. Nothing Medjed said could be entirely trusted, but presumably Medjed wanted to confront him and force him to admit to being the leader of the Black Knights in front of Nunnally before attempting to kill both of them. If true, that meant that Mao wanted to be found, and so he couldn't have taken Nunnally very far. Therefore, Mao was likely in the part of the Metaverse that corresponded to Ashford Academy. With the disappearance of Shirley's Palace, there were no longer strong Distortions over the campus, and thus the Shadows had dispersed as well.

He ran toward the Clubhouse, activated the MetNav, and made his way to Nunnally's room as quickly as he could. He doubted that Mao would have simply remained put in the Metaverse, but as soon as he eliminated that possibility, which he might otherwise overlook, he could begin systematically narrowing down his options.

There was no sign of Mao or Nunnally in the Metaverse version of her room, but when he reverted to reality, he encountered none other than Sayoko.

"Master Lelouch!" Sayoko said as he appeared, from her perspective, to materialize out of thin air into Nunnally's room. All things considered, she took it rather well. "You entrusted me with your secret of being a Black Knight, but I never imagined you were in possession of such a technique! Even I, the successor of the Shinozaki School, am incapable of teleportation. Or perhaps you have the power of complete invisibility instead."

"There's no time, Sayoko!" he said, not bothering to correct her. "Nunnally's been taken!"

"I did think it odd that Mistress Nunnally wasn't in her room, but there were no signs of a struggle. Do you know who has taken her?"

"He goes by Medjed."

"The same Medjed as the one on the news, I presume?"

"Yes. He's extremely dangerous." Mao's Persona hadn't posed the Black Knights much trouble in their last encounter, but he was clearly unstable, and in spite of her seemingly superhuman physical prowess, Sayoko had no supernatural powers of her own. "If I don't find him by midnight, he's going to kill Nunnally!"

"Do you have any idea where he might have taken Mistress Nunnally, Master Lelouch? As you know, I am trained in the protection and rescue of VIPs behind enemy lines, and it is my duty, if need be, to neutralize any threats to you or your sister."

"I was going to check the chapel next, but all I'm sure of is that he's somewhere on the Academy grounds." He shook his head. "No, that's not right. You wouldn't be able to find him, no matter how thoroughly you searched the Academy, because he's not in this Ashford Academy at all."

"Another world, then," Sayoko murmured. "So that is your true power. That's how you were able to steal from all of those powerful individuals completely undetected... and how Medjed abducted Mistress Nunnally from under my nose."

"To oversimplify, yes," Lelouch admitted.

"Can you bring me into that world with you?"

"I can... but Medjed will kill Nunnally if he realizes that I'm not coming alone!"

"As with all things, I will be discreet, Master Lelouch. While you distract Medjed, I will locate and free Mistress Nunnally."

That... could actually work.

"Thank you, Sayoko. I'll give you a call once I pin down Medjed's location."

He felt that his bond with Sayoko had grown stronger than ever, and the Hierophant resonated within him in turn.

xXx

While Lelouch had assumed that using the chapel as a reprise of their previous encounter might appeal to Mao's sense of theatrics, there was no sign of either Mao or Nunnally there. He felt his panic rising to new heights.

This was exactly what Mao wanted, wasn't it? Mao wanted him to tire himself out, running every which way across campus, arriving before him exhausted, and hence in no condition to fight. Mao would be in the last place on campus, or rather, its Metaverse counterpart, that someone would ordinarily think to look, so that he'd arrive shortly before the deadline, so that he'd be as anxious as possible, further hindering his ability to fight back effectively.

Lelouch took several breaths, forcing himself to calm down, at least to the extent to which that was possible with Nunnally missing. What part of campus would be practically beneath notice?

Come to think of it, there had been a sound in the background when Mao had called. It had almost sounded like water…

The underground circulation system! It connected to the vast network of pipes and tunnels that ran throughout the Tokyo Settlement. He had partial access to it as a member of the student council, and had snuck down there a few times before as a means of surreptitiously getting off campus, though during Viletta's reign at the academy it had been nearly impossible to use, as members of the SSDF were constantly on patrol through the corridors. There were portions of the circulation system that were actually surprisingly spacious, with a wide observation platform around the central drain area, so there was more than enough room for Mao to hide himself and Nunnally in there.

They were there. Here was certain of it.

"Sayoko, I think I've figured out where Medjed took Nunnally! Meet me at the elevator leading to the circulation system!"

"Affirmative, Master Lelouch," his maid replied on the other end. "I am already on my way."

As Lelouch hastened across campus, he almost ran into a girl, dressed in the same uniform as the rest of the girls in Nunnally's class.

It was Alice.

"I'm sorry," the twin-tailed blonde girl said, looking up to him. "I almost didn't see you."

What was she doing here, now of all times? He knew from Jeremiah that Alice was not who she claimed to be. Whether she was an imposter, or if her records had been redacted, she definitely was not an ordinary student. That made her an unknown quantity, and thus a danger to himself and Nunnally. He hid his unease from Alice though, not wanting to give her cause to suspect him in turn.

"Have you seen Nunnally?" Alice asked. "You're her older brother, right? I've been looking all over campus for her, but I can't find her anywhere."

Alice was also looking for Nunnally? He couldn't have her following him! The last thing he needed was for her to get pulled into the Metaverse with him.

"Nunnally had to head out to the hospital for some routine tests," Lelouch lied. "It's nothing to worry about. She'll be back later tonight."

"Nunnally didn't say anything about a hospital visit," Alice said pointedly. "And if there's nothing to worry about, then why are you running around like that? Nunnally says you always try to get out of physical activity if you can avoid it. You were barely looking where you were going either."

Damn! Alice, or whoever she was, had seen right through him!

"Sorry, got to go!" he shouted, running past her. It would only heighten her suspicion of him, but he wasn't going to waste any more time coming up with a better alibi that might not even work when Nunnally's life was in the balance.

xXx

Sayoko was already at the elevator when he arrived. After quickly checking that he hadn't been followed by Alice, he accessed the elevators controls, only to find that they had been hacked to lock him out. That was all the proof he needed. Mao had been here. Thankfully, it didn't take him long to override Mao's amateurish code with his own hack, giving him control of the elevator once. The system in the Black King's Palace had been far more secure. He supposed that it had simply been a delaying tactic on Mao's part.

"You never cease to amaze me with your gifts, Master Lelouch," Sayoko smiled. "I would have been hard pressed to break into that system faster."

"Is there anything you haven't been trained in?"

"I'll tell you when you're ready," she said simply.

Lelouch activated the Metaverse Navigator as soon as they had finished riding the elevator down to the circulation system, feeling a twisting sensation as they left reality behind them.

"We're in. Welcome to the Metaverse, Sayoko. You'd hardly be able to tell that this isn't reality, but it exists alongside the real world. Parts of it are far stranger and more dangerous though."

"I see," Sayoko said, her eyes taking stock of their surroundings like the professional that she was. "I shall be careful."

"Remember, you can't let Medjed see you."

She nodded. "Do not fear, Master Lelouch. I shall see you sister safely reunited with you." With that, she took off with a leap, and began quickly but silently making her way forward.

Lelouch was left alone in the tunnel. He had no doubt that Sayoko would do her job with her usual efficiency. He had a problem though.

As he wasn't in a Palace and perceived as hostile by its ruler, he remained in his plain clothes. It didn't matter if he appeared before Nunnally in his regular clothes or in his thief attire, as her blindness meant she wouldn't be able to see him anyway, but he needed his mask to be able to summon his Personas. Then again, this was the Cognitive world. If his own will of rebellion was strong enough…

Mustering his willpower, Lelouch unleashed his rebel's heart. At once his thief attire replaced his regular clothes, while his mask materialized over his face. That was better, and fascinating as a proof of concept. It made him wonder if he could manipulate Cognition in other small ways in the Metaverse, though he doubted that he would be able to successfully do so within the confines of a Palace, where the ruler's Cognition overrode other influences.

Lelouch dismissed that line of thought. He would have plenty of time to experiment later.

It was time to face Mao.

This time, he would be sure to finish the job.

xXx

Mao was waiting for him on the observation platform. Around them, water cascaded in artificial falls, to be collected in the pool below, filtered, and recirculated through the system.

"You never cease to impress me, Lulu!" Mao clapped. "Who would have thought you had a place like this under your school? Luckily for me, I got dumped down here when that girl's Palace collapsed."

Now that he was no longer in his own Metaverse attire, Lelouch saw that Mao had a far more disheveled look than the stylish image that he had once projected, as if he had scrounged up his outfit from whatever he had been able to steal after his escape from the lab in Narita. Parts of it approximated the costume he wore as Medjed, including a long, pale blue coat that he wore over his shoulders. Other parts were new to Lelouch, such as a dark blue cap that Mao wore backwards. But the individual pieces looked as if most of them were either a size too big or small for him. Mao was also heavily bandaged, and it looked like one of his legs was encased in a cast. Even the finest Britannian medical science couldn't fully heal such serious injuries in less than a week.

Mao should have been in no condition to fight. At the same time, Lelouch knew that he couldn't afford to underestimate Mao again. After all, a cornered animal was the most dangerous.

"Where's Nunnally?" Lelouch demanded. The more he could keep Mao focused on him, the better. So far his opponent hadn't noticed Sayoko's infiltration, and Lelouch intended to keep it that way.

"How impatient." Mao smirked. "We'll get to that soon enough. Do you have any idea why I called you here, Lulu?"

"Revenge. Why else?"

"That's true, but there's more to it," Mao replied. "When I watched you fight that evil witch's Shadow, I saw how you were the one unifying the other Black Knights. There's no need for me to risk myself in such a lopsided fight. Seven against one is hardly fair. But if I kill you, the Black Knights will surely crumble, and my goal of putting an end to their false justice will be realized."

"That makes no sense! Why set up such an elaborate plot? You could have ruined us at any time with no risk to yourself simply by revealing our identities to the media, as you originally threatened to do."

"You just don't get it, do you Lulu?" Mao laughed, madness escaping from under whatever pretenses he tried to maintain and echoing through the chamber. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. Nobody wallowing in sin can understand my righteous mission and the hammer of justice!" His bearing became even more erratic. "Those Irregulars, when we first escaped from the lab… You'd think they'd be grateful… But they said that process of awakening to my power had driven me insane. They called me mad!" Mao gestured wildly. "But I'm fine! Perfectly fine!"

Looking on contemptuously, Lelouch drew his gun and aimed it at Mao. "One last time, Mao. Where is Nunnally?"

"How naughty of you! You'll have to beat me first, Lulu!" Mao clutched his head and began groaning in pain.

Lelouch fired, but Mao's Persona, Momus, appeared and disintegrated the bullet with a stream of red and black cursed energy launched into its path.

"How predictable. Isis!" With immunity to both bless and curse spells, Isis would render Mao's primary means of offense useless, and would grant him further protection on the off chance that Momus had spells that could cause instant death. It would hardly surprise him with all of Mao's talk of righteousness and smiting the wicked.

"Very impressive!" Mao clapped. "How does it feel to present a different face to every person that you meet? Gaining their trust, manipulating them for your own selfish ends?"

Lelouch ignored him. "Agilao!" He ordered. Isis blasted Mao with flame, setting the ends of his coat on fire.

Mao whipped off his coat and threw it to the ground, stamping on it to extinguish the flames. "You'll pay for that, Lulu!" Dropping down, he picked up something that had been lying on the ground behind him.

A chainsaw.

"You may have all of those fancy Personas, but this'll cut you down to size!" Mao grinned, revving the chainsaw up to its maximum speed. "En garde!"

Mao dashed toward him, moving faster than a man with his injuries had any right to, pulling the chainsaw back for a swing that would bisect him if it were allowed to strike its mark.

"Shiki Ouji!"

The chainsaw's blade struck Lelouch's side, but its teeth could not bite into him, and its forward momentum halted as if it had instead struck an impenetrable wall.

Mao's eyes went wide. "What? That's cheating!" He whined.

Lelouch responded by punching Mao in the face with one hand, and proceeded to stab Mao with the combat knife that he had stolen from the Black King's Palace in the other. However, Mao had staggered back from Lelouch upon being punched, limiting the depth of the wound. Snarling, Mao tossed the chainsaw aside, and grabbed the weapon slung on his back, a shotgun.

Mao fired, but it too had no effect, the bullets stopping in midair inches from Lelouch's face.

"I guess it's time to stop playing around!" Mao shouted as he leaped backwards, putting more distance between himself and Lelouch. "No matter who they are, all sinners will eventually fall to the almighty hammer of judgment! Now find your salvation in death!" His expression contorted. "Momus! Megidola!"

The demonic jester appeared, and fired what appeared to be multiple laser beams at Lelouch. The lasers were pure energy, unaligned with any element, and as such, none of his Personas had any sort of innate resistance to it. The lasers would have sliced anyone who wasn't a Persona-user to ribbons, but they still seared deeply into Lelouch's flesh.

He had gravely underestimated his opponent. Mao had been holding himself back all along.

"You got cocky, Lulu!" Mao taunted, advancing on him, Momus floating above him. "Now you must pay the price. I'd originally planned to cut off your arms with my chainsaw so that you couldn't summon those pesky Personas of yours, but you've made that rather difficult, I'm afraid. I suppose a few uses of Megidola will do the job though! Then I can take you to see your precious sister in your dying moments! Of course, I'll kill her in front of you just before you expire, so you can know how utterly you failed."

"You'll do no such thing!" A female voice suddenly called out.

Two girls leapt down onto the platform behind Mao, accompanied by Sayoko. One of them was unmistakably Alice, though she was now masked behind a visor not entirely unlike those sometimes used by Knightmare pilots, and draped in a long red and gold cloak that gave her the appearance of a knight. The other, the one who had spoken, seemed to be about the same age as Alice, and wore a blue bodysuit, also similar to what a Knightmare pilot might wear, though unnecessarily with cutouts exposing parts of her abdomen and upper arms. Her mask resembled a red bird in flight. In many ways, this girl seemed distressingly familiar to Lelouch. Her hair was blonde, like Alice's, but its long, wavy tresses were identical in style to his sister's. Her voice even sounded something like Nunnally's, only lower and threatening. But it couldn't be Nunnally! This girl's eyes peered out from beneath her mask, fully open, and she walked forward without difficulty, when Nunnally's legs had been irreparably damaged.

Could this strange girl be… Nunnally's Shadow?

"I'm sorry I took so long, Nemo," Alice said to Nunnally's blonde doppelgänger.

"I must apologize as well, Mistress Nunnally," Sayoko added. "Though I must say, I never expected you to have such a daring alter ego in this world."

"I'm the one who should apologize," the strange girl said, all while keeping her eyes locked on Mao. "He caught me in the real world, and I could hardly summon my Persona when I was tied up."

Lelouch's brain refused to process what he was hearing. It simply couldn't be. Nemo? Nunnally? There had to be another explanation!

Mao turned to face them. "Irregular," he spat, glaring at Alice. "I should have expected you to interfere." He glanced back at Lelouch. "You brought your maid as well." His eyes turned back to the strange girl. "And you... How was I to know that the Black Knight's sister was a Persona-user all along?!"

"B-Black Knight," the strange girl stammered, her eyes moving past Mao to Lelouch. Her menacing facade cracked, and suddenly she seemed small and vulnerable. "Br-brother?"

That was definitely Nunnally's voice, and this time as he knew it!

Mao looked from Nemo/Nunnally to Lelouch and back again.

He laughed.

"Judging from the looks on your faces, neither of you knew, did you? That your dear big brother was secretly the leader of the Black Knights! Or that your precious, helpless little sister was moonlighting as one of the Irregulars! This is rich! Even I never imagined that it would get this juicy!" A malevolent grin spread on Mao's face. "Of course, lying is a sin. And sinners must be-"

"Arsene!"

"Elizabeth!"

The demonic thief charged Mao. At the same time, a new Persona rose over Nemo/Nunnally, garbed in a queenly dress. It too rushed at Mao, forming a pincer with Arsene. Momus swerved, as if trying to ascertain which was the greater threat to its summoner.

Mao didn't have that much time, and subsequently failed to defend adequately against either. Momus dissipated under the combined assault, and Mao collapsed to the ground. He wasn't moving.

"Is he-" Nemo/Nunnally began nervously.

Alice went up to Mao, feeling for a pulse, and then delivered a swift kick to his head.

"Out cold," she said innocently.

"He's not going to be incapacitated for long," Lelouch said testily as he finished healing himself with his Persona. "He's far more dangerous than either of you realize." He took out his gun.

You're going to kill him?" Nemo/Nunnally asked.

"Master, allow me," Sayoko said. "She doesn't need to see this. I can rejoin you when the deed is done."

"No! I have to do it!" Lelouch replied fiercely. "I should have done so the last time when I had the chance! If I had, then-"

"I wouldn't know that you were a Black Knight, big brother," Nemo/Nunnally said, her voice suddenly firm again.

Lelouch stared at her.

"You lied to me, Lelouch," she continued. "What about that pinky promise we made together?"

"What are you-"

"Don't try to deny that you're my big brother! Even if I haven't seen you in years, I'd still recognize your voice anywhere, Lelouch! Sayoko wouldn't accept such orders from just anyone either."

"I followed you here too," Alice added. "You weren't as careful as you thought you were. So it's kind of pointless to try to convince us otherwise."

"I was not expecting you to have such power," Sayoko said, regarding the twin-tailed girl. "I would have failed in my mission, had we not both shared the same goal."

"Hey, you didn't do bad at all," Alice reassured her. "You can move almost as fast as me, even without a Persona. And my codename's Speed for a reason."

"Answer me, big brother!" Nemo/Nunnally pressed.

He was cornered, his futile attempts at denial collapsing. He supposed wasn't inconceivable that Nunnally's hair could change colors when when in the costume of a thief. Kallen's hair changed styles all by itself, from straight to spiky, whenever she entered the Metaverse. But to think that Nunnally had been operating in the Metaverse without his knowledge...

"Guilty as charged," he conceded. "But if I'm guilty of breaking that promise, then so are you, Nunnally. Shall we both eat a thousand needles then? Or shall we waste even more time arguing about which of us is more of a hypocrite, sister?"

"You didn't have to do this, Lelouch," Nunnally said. "I never asked you to become a thief who steals people's hearts. You don't need to change the world all for my sake! I was happy just being with you."

"It may have started out that way, but don't think this is just about you, anymore, Nunnally. But what are you doing here anyway? Don't you realize how dangerous this place is? You could be-"

"Alice and her friends needed help!" Nunnally shot back. "Was I supposed to turn my back on them?! I helped change the heart of a man who was after them, but that's my sin to bear!"

"You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, Nunnally. Just let me-"

"No!" Nunnally shouted in uncharacteristic anger, her eyes flaring gold for a moment. "I can see again here! I can walk again! I'm free of that wheelchair whenever I come here!" Nunnally's eyes widened, as if horrified by her outburst. She began crying. "You've been the best big brother I could have asked for, and you never abandoned me, even though I was blind and crippled… but I can't go back to being that way!"

Something clicked in Lelouch's mind. "Cognition."

"Huh?" Nunnally asked.

"I don't know exactly how or when you awakened to your Persona, Nunnally," Lelouch continued, "but you must have had a strong desire to stop closing your eyes to the world around you. This world is shaped by people's desires. That's why you can see here."

Nunnally nodded. "I did."

"But your blindness has always been psychosomatic, hasn't it, Nunnally? If you could will yourself to see here, there's no reason why you can't open your eyes in the real world if you truly want to. You just thought that since you were no longer in the Metaverse, you wouldn't be able to see in the real world, and so you couldn't."

"What about my legs?" Nunnally asked slowly.

Lelouch frowned. "That's an actual injury. I don't think you can wish it away in the real world with Cognition alone."

"Wow… look at you two," Alice murmured. "You were all furious with each other a few minutes ago… But now… You two really are family."

"They faked your death after that fire so they could use you as an experimental subject for Code-R, didn't they?" Lelouch asked, his eyes boring into Alice for any sign of deception.

"Yes," Alice replied quietly.

"And your sister?"

"You're nosy, aren't you?" Alice said, giving him an odd look. She cast her eyes down. "My sister really did die in that fire."

There were so many more questions Lelouch wanted to ask, but at that moment, Mao started to stir again.

"We've waited too long!" Lelouch snarled. "I'll do it now!"

"Alice nodded, but Nunnally pleaded, "Please don't kill again, brother!"

"I haven't killed anyone… yet," Lelouch said grimly as he took aim. "Clovis deserved it for what he did, but I wasn't the one who killed him."

"But-"

"Listen, Nunnnally! He's too dangerous to be left alive! One phone call, and he can have all of us arrested and hauled before the Viceroy, and then we'd either be taken back to the homeland or executed! He kidnapped Shirley, tried to kill her, and almost succeeded! Who knows how many other people he'll kill if he walks away from here? And even if we could somehow turn him in alive, he'd be killed all the same, only by Britannia. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to dissect him first, so to learn more from him. You might even say we'd be doing him a favor by giving him a quick death, not that he deserves it!"

"I-"

"This world is cruel, Nunnally. You can't change anything or save anyone if you're afraid to get your hands dirty. Now, I-"

A shot rang out. Mao gasped as a hole opened in his chest, blood blossoming out. The gun fired again, blasting Mao's head open, a mess of brains and gore spraying everywhere. Lelouch doubted that even Mao's Persona could save him from two clearly fatal wounds in such short succession, especially with his brain destroyed. But he hadn't been the one to fire...

"Sp- Alice! What have you done?" gasped Nunnally. His sister trembled violently, as she stared at Mao's blood that had spattered onto her, doubtlessly reliving the night that their mother had been murdered, the trauma that had caused her to lose her vision in the first place. To her credit, Nunnally did not close her eyes again, though she averted them from Mao's corpse, and she looked like she was going to be sick.

Alice holstered her own weapon, smoke rising from its barrel. "I know you didn't want to see that, or to have that on your conscience, but your brother was right. The two of you were wasting so much time arguing that you were going to let him recover. I couldn't risk that. I failed my sister once. I'm not going to fail you. Besides, I'm already a murderer. I had to kill just to survive after I escaped from that lab. I'm glad that you allowed me to pretend to have a normal life and to be your friend, but I knew it couldn't last. At least I was able to protect you, and spare your brother from becoming a murderer as well."

"You needn't have bothered," a cold voice said from above them. "I was about to eliminate him myself."

The four of them looked up in the direction of the voice. They saw a man, dressed from head to toe in black, his face concealed by an armored helmet.

Lelouch felt his blood run cold. He couldn't recognize the voice, but there was no doubt as to who this man was, or rather, his role.

It was the Black Mask.

This was the man who had killed Clovis, Shirley's father, and so many others.

How much had he overheard? Had he been there the whole time? No, that wasn't what was important now. At once, he moved protectively in front of Nunnally. Alice and Sayoko did the same, standing at his sides. His mind was racing. They had to fight. There was no question about it. But how could he-

"You will not harm them!" Sayoko shouted, throwing a pair of kunai at the Black Mask. They were effortlessly deflected with his own blade.

"Think again before you do something foolish like that," the Black Mask called down. "You don't stand a chance against me. If you force me to fight back, it will be your own undoing."

"Why show yourself then?" Lelouch replied. Do you expect us to surrender to you?"

Not at all. Consider this a warning, Black Knights and Irregulars. You are being watched. If you continue to involve yourselves in these matters, there will be no escape for you."

"You're going to let us go?" Lelouch asked incredulously.

"As of yet, I have no orders to eliminate you," the Black Mask replied. "I would prefer to keep it that way."

"Then why has almost everyone else related to Code-R ended up dead?" Alice retorted. "An assassin shows up in the Metaverse, and you expect us to believe it had nothing to do with you?"

"Clovis said he had an assassin working for him, but that the assassin would kill him if he revealed Code-R to the public," Lelouch said. "He said this assassin was called the Black Mask. That's you."

"You appear to be laboring under a delusion, Black Knight" the assassin replied. "Whoever said that there was only one Black Mask?"

"What?"

"There is another with the title of Black Mask," the assassin continued. "I know not who. But I can say this. I only kill the truly guilty, who would stop at nothing, even killing innocents, if it would advance their goals. I carry out their duly ordered executions. Don't compare me to that other Black Mask."

"You serve Britannia!" Lelouch shouted. "What justice can be found working on the behalf of its tyranny?"

"You may have good intentions, but your methods are woefully misguided. Changing a few hearts will never bring about that which you seek. I do what is necessary." The Black Mask turned. "Now go! I'll forget that I ever saw you here for now. Go back and lead your normal lives. I won't turn you in. But if we meet again in this world, then I will not be able to show you such mercy a second time. Be glad that it was me you encountered and not my counterpart, for I am sure he would not have let you leave this place alive."

With that, the Black Mask vanished from sight.

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter underwent significant revisions, given feedback that I received those I shared a draft of the chapter with, but I think it made it significantly stronger, so many thanks for them.**

 **The reveal of Nunnally being a Persona-user has been planned and foreshadowed in the story for some time. At first, I actually wasn't planning for her to be a Persona-user at all, but the more I thought about it, Nunnally really is more similar to her brother than may be obvious at first glance, as is particularly made clear in the second season of the show. I also made the decision to make Nunnally a Persona user after all early enough in the story that I was able to adjust things accordingly. I did tell some readers that she wasn't going to be a member of the Black Knights... but she is one of the Irregulars in this story. The timing of the reveal was also different than originally planned, but when a number of readers pointed out that it would be disappointing if Mao were to simply die for real after Lelouch's first encounter with him, in stark contrast to his resilience in canon, I decided that I could subvert the basic "Nunnally Held Hostage" scenario in Episode 16 of the show to lead to a different set of reveals.**

 **I couldn't have Lelouch be the one to actually kill Mao, though he was going to if Alice or the Black Mask hadn't intervened, since that would make his recollections in the last interrogation scene false. However, Alice is the one who killed Mao's counterpart in Nightmare of Nunnally, and she is also shown to be violently protective of Nunnally there, so I figured that she could fit as Mao's killer in this story.**

 **And yes, Mao really is dead this time.**

 **Just as there are multiple groups of Persona-users in this story, there's more than one Black Mask. Or is there? It's a precarious situation that Lelouch finds himself in. But even Black Knights and Irregulars need some time to relax...**

 **Stay tuned!**


	42. The Light-Bringer

"Nunnally was a Persona-user, and you didn't tell me?"

"You did not need to know, Trickster," Igor said, his demented smile looking increasingly malicious as his bulging eyes leered at his prisoner.

"She's my little sister! If I don't need to know about that, what do I need to know about?" Lelouch shouted back angrily.

"We have been over this before, Inmate!" Igor boomed, killing intent flaring once again. The Velvet Room itself began to shake violently, causing Shi to break down into sobs. "Do not presume to question me! You may be the Trickster with the best chance of averting Ragnarok, but do not think for a moment that you or the Black Knights are irreplaceable! If you persist in this prideful folly, your ingratitude shall only lead to ruin!"

So that was it, why multiple teams of Persona-users had appeared. If one team fell in battle, or proved impossible for Igor to control, then he would still have more pawns whom he could manipulate into preventing Ragnarok, whatever that really meant.

The aura of killing intent faded. "Still," Igor laughed, "That rebellious spirit of yours is precisely why you are so interesting, Trickster, and why you have accomplished so much in so short a time. If you must know why I could not tell you of her power in a word, it would be 'confidentiality'."

"Confidentiality?" Lelouch didn't believe it for a second.

"Are you really so surprised, Trickster?" Igor asked. "While I never told you about your little sister's power, did it ever occur to you that I also never told her about yours?"

Wait. If Igor was in the position to choose not to tell Nunnally about such things, then that meant…

"Yes, Trickster," Igor said, his rictus grin seeming to grow wider. "I see that it has dawned on you at last. Your little sister is a Trickster in her own right, and is bound by her own contract, though her power as of yet less mature than yours, as she has only awakened to it relatively recently. Of course, if you are upset with me for concealing this from you, then Shi and Tsu must also share the blame. You did not honestly think that they could establish a new doorway into this place without my permission, did you? Not only did it facilitate Tsu's experiment in interacting with you in the human world, but it granted your sister easier access to our assistance in her own rehabilitation, as was necessary given her infirmities. Just as Tsu devoted more of her time to you, Shi was sent into the human world to be your sister's personal attendant."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lel-Trickster… um… Inmate," Shi said, hastily correcting herself as Igor's authoritarian presence seemed to loom menacingly over her. "Please don't be angry at me or big sister Tsu."

"He never asked, so he has no right to complain," Tsu smirked cooly.

"Your family's potential is truly remarkable," Igor concluded. "Producing not one but two Tricksters is no small feat. And as much as he drives the world toward ruin, your father's power is not to be discounted either." Igor chuckled to himself. "Would you like to see your sister here?"

No, he did not, but when had Igor ever cared about what he wanted?

"Welcome back, Miss Inmate," Shi said softly, moving to a cell across from his own, while nervously glancing back at Igor. "There's someone our Master wishes for you to see."

Lelouch faintly heard the sound of someone rising from one of the prison beds, and then Nunnally appeared, dressed in a straitjacket like his own. Her hair was its usual sandy brown color, but her violet eyes were open, and she was able to walk under how own power. Why wouldn't she be able to? This was a dream, after all. He couldn't help but notice though that a heavy metal ball was chained to one of Nunnally's ankles, just as a similar but somewhat larger ball was chained around one of his own.

"Big brother, is that you?" Nunnally asked.

"Nunnally…" Lelouch whispered.

"Is that how you greet your sister?" Igor asked. "In any case, the two of you are presently sharing the same dream together. Your destinies are now even more intertwined than ever. What happens to one of you will surely affect the other."

Lelouch sensed a hidden threat in Igor's words, which outwardly seemed far more kindly when directed at Nunnally. She probably hadn't had the chance to see through his deceptions yet. But the meaning of the Master of the Velvet Room was clear to Lelouch.

Step out of line, and your little sister will pay the price.

Just like Mao, Igor would use Nunnally as a hostage if it would serve his purposes.

The prison bell rang.

"Once more, our time is up," Igor said. "May you two guide each other toward your successful rehabilitations."

The power of the Fool increased, as Lelouch understood Igor's motives better. The Star, representing his bond with Nunnally, felt stronger as well.

xXx

"I swear, Zero, if you keep going off by yourself like that, I'm so going to murder you myself to save our enemies the trouble!" Kallen fumed.

The Black Knights had convened in Mementos. While they could have chosen any number of covert meeting places, the entrance of the Palace of the Public was as close to neutral ground as they could find, especially considering who they would soon be meeting with.

"Not only did Medjed survive being pulled under at Shirley's Palace, but you encountered the Black Mask, and he gave you a warning not to continue venturing into the Metaverse," Milly frowned.

"But Medjed is dead now, and there is not one Black Mask but at least two," Leila said, methodically processing the information. "Possibly more."

"One person causing mental shutdowns is horrible enough," Euphemia murmured. "What if there really are multiple Black Masks?"

"And to top it all off, Nunna and her friend are Persona-users too?" Shirley asked with concern. She had just got out of the hospital, and the first order of business was bringing her up to speed, which was the other main reason for selecting Mementos as their meeting place.

"You should talk, Shirley," Milly replied. "Next to her, I'm sure you're the last person any of us expected to become a Persona-user."

Shirley flushed. "Geez, you don't have to put it like that, Madam Prez."

"Well, this meeting quickly got awkward," Arthur said. "Of course, it was pretty heavy to begin with. So that's an improvement? I guess?" He shrugged. "What do I know? I'm a cat."

"We're being too loose with our codenames," Lelouch said. He turned to Shirley. "You'll need one too, if you're serious about being a Black Knight."

"Huh?"

"That's right," Milly said, moving closer to Shirley. "What kind of self-respecting phantom thief would use her real name during a heist?"

Shirley looked unconvinced.

"It helps keep your normal life and your life as a thief separate. It also eventually helps you react faster by association if you're called your codename in combat," Lelouch explained. "Plus we don't want to be advertising our true identities as we're infiltrating someone else's Palace, that is to say their distorted psyche, since our targets usually aren't friendly."

"Oh, I see," Shirley nodded. "What are your codenames again? I know you were shouting them while you were fighting my Shadow, but I wasn't exactly in my right mind at the time, so it's a bit foggy." She turned to Lelouch. "I know you're Zero."

"That's correct."

Arthur was the first to speak up. "I'm Tama." He sighed. "Why couldn't it be Merlin?"

"All cats should be named Tama," Kallen replied. "Anyways, I'm Queen," she said assertively.

Shirley didn't back down. "I see," she murmured. "You're really different than you are at Ashford, aren't you?"

"That weak, useless wallflower?" Kallen scowled. "She's a just a mask that I have to wear in public." Her tone softened. "I really am sorry about having to lie to you about it. Almost everything that people know about her is a lie, but it's no lie that I consider you a friend, as a member of the Student Council and now as a Black Knight… Even if we haven't been on the best of terms lately."

"I'm Diamond!" Milly piped up before it could get any more awkward between Kallen and Shirley. "Isn't this just the sort of thing a classy cat burglar would wear in a movie?"

"If you say so…" Shirley said, not sounding convinced.

"My codename is Bishop," Leila said in turn. "I'm pleased to have the chance to properly introduce myself. Welcome to the Black Knights."

"Aw, that's no fair, Bishop!" Milly pouted. "You make it look like I don't have any manners!"

"I'm Noire," Euphemia continued. "The way you faced yourself was incredible. You really know what's important to you. I admire that. Between you and Queen, my brother is in good hands."

"Why, thank-" Shirley paused as her mind finished processing what Euphemia had said, and then did a double take. "Wait, what?! Lulu…um… Zero has a sister beside Nunna?! Since when?"

"Technically, she's my half-sister," Lelouch said, waving a hand, "but that's a long story, not one that we have time to go into right now."

"Fine, but you owe me an explanation, Zero!"

"Oh, you have no idea how much of an explanation he owes you, Shirley," Kallen said. "He's the biggest liar of any of us. Of course, he had a good reason for _most_ of his lies."

"No matter what the truth is, my feelings for him won't change," Shirley said softly.

"Hey! That's my line!" Kallen snapped.

"Well, I believe that's all of our veteran members," Lelouch said, diverting the conversation back to the topic at hand. "What would you like your codename to be, Shirley?"

'Um… let's see… so far you have a number, a royal title, a precious stone, a clerical rank, and a color…" She frowned. "I'm sorry, Arthur, but I have no idea what a 'Tama' is."

Arthur looked up at Kallen. "See? I told you 'Merlin' would have been a better codename. At least people would know what it is. It's a lot cooler too."

Kallen shook her head. "No, I stand by what I said. All cats should be named Tama."

Arthur groaned.

"You're looking for a theme, aren't you?" Leila asked thoughtfully.

"I will say that 'Queen' and 'Bishop' are named after the chess pieces, not the ranks," Lelouch explained. "And while it may not have been their intentions, 'Diamond' and 'Noire' could be connected to a standard deck of playing cards."

"Why are you Zero then?"

"It's actually a Tarot reference. The Fool Arcana is represented by the number 0."

"I didn't think you were into that kind of thing," Shirley said.

"The Fool is 22 in some decks though," Leila interjected, "representing its role as the highest trump card in those decks."

"Again, do you really have to be a show-off?" Kallen sighed.

"Still, the Fool?" Shirley began. "Lu- Zero, you're not a-"

"I am. Who but a Fool would challenge the mightiest Empire on the planet, fighting with a force of only six at his side? But that's not a bad thing. People underestimate the Fool's true potential until it's too late. Someone once said to me that the Fool, like the number zero, is empty, yet filled with limitless possibilities. It is with those possibilities that I will create a new world!"

"I knew there was more to you, Zero, than you let on at school. It's actually refreshing to see you so passionate about something. But my own codename…" Shirley frowned. "This is harder than I thought."

"You could be 'Heart'!" Milly said excitedly. "As in the suit of cards! I think that would be a great fit for you, Shirley!"

"Heart?" Shirley's cheeks went bright red. "Don't you think that's a little…"

"Perhaps one of the suits in the original French would work," Leila said.

"What are their names in French?" Shirley asked. "I haven't heard them before."

"Diamonds is Carreaux, Hearts is Cœurs, Spades is Piques, and Clubs is Trèfles," Leila replied smoothly.

"Your pronunciation is beautiful, Bishop," Euphemia smiled. "Practically flawless. Even official translators have a bit of an accent that marks them as non-native speakers."

"Thank you," Leila said modestly. "My parents were fully bilingual, and they raised me as such too."

Lelouch narrowed his eyes. "Is that perhaps because they were planning on…?"

Leila nodded. "I assume so, yes."

Shirley looked on in confusion.

"Say, Leila," Milly said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "I bet if you sprinkled some French or even just the accent into your everyday speech, the guys would be all over you! Of course, Queen and our newest member might not like it if you started putting the moves on our leader."

Leila shifted uncomfortably.

Shirley shook her head. "I don't think those suit me."

"There's Caïssa," Leila suggested.

"The muse of chess?" Lelouch asked.

"Too obscure," Milly interrupted. Shirley nodded in agreement.

"I'm not opposed to a chess theme…" Shirley said thoughtfully. "But all that's left is Rook and Knight… I'm not a king, and I definitely don't want to be 'Pawn'. A rook is a tower, right? They fire arrows from them, and my Persona-" Shirley began.

"You're trying too hard to force it to fit a theme," Lelouch told her. "The rook carries a strong connotation of a fortification. Maid Marian is unsuitable for such a role."

Shirley frowned.

"Her outfit makes a matching pair with Zero's, don't you think?" Euphemia asked

Shirley blushed as all eyes settled upon her, though Kallen looked distinctly uncomfortable as well.

"Er, wasn't here a book character that dressed all in black? A French female spy, I think?"

"Milday de Winter?" Leila asked raising an eyebrow. "I don't think that's right. If we were trying to be faithful to the literary reference, then I would be the one best suited for the codename 'Milady', but she…"

"Milady was a textbook psychopath," Lelouch finished.

"Exactly!" Leila nodded.

"Really?" Milly asked. "I thought she wasn't that bad."

"I think you're remembering an adaptation," Leila said gently. "Later authors have rewritten the character to be more heroic, especially in works aimed at children."

"Dang!"

"Don't mind it," Lelouch told her. "Britannian education tends to... underplay foreign literature."

Shirley's eyes lit up. "I remembered another book character that was dressed all in black and wielded a sword! I think he was an outlaw from Area 3."

"Zorro?" Lelouch asked.

Shirley smiled. "You know him?"

"Yes, but I'm surprised you do. There's a strong anti-establishment theme in his stories, so the books are hard to come by. Have you ever been to Area 3, or shall I say, Mexico?"

"Yes! Dad…" Shirley faltered, but managed to compose herself. "Dad took Mom and me to Acapulco for a long holiday once. It was years before we moved here, but I remembered that trip well because of the La Quebrada cliff divers."

Milly beamed. "I can see how they made an impression on the star our swimming club."

"Do you remember if Zorro had a love interest?" Shirley asked.

"As a matter of fact, he did," Lelouch replied. "She was promised to Diego de la Vega - that was Zorro's real identity- in marriage since they were children, but she fell in love with his outlaw persona without knowing they were the same man."

"Doesn't that sound perfect for you, Shirley?" Milly asked. "I think we've found it! What was her name?"

"Lolita Pulido," Lelouch supplied.

"Ugh. Nabokov ruined that one," Milly frowned.

"This is hopeless," Shirley sighed.

"We could just give you a provisional codename like 'Rookie'," Arthur suggested.

He was met with grumbling disapproval from the other Black Knights.

"It would be a shame to spend so much time on it and not come up with a name for her," Euphemia said.

"May I submit one last idea?" Leila asked.

"Go ahead," Shirley replied sullenly.

"La Dame, or Dame for short. It means "lady" in French, but the latter used to be used in Britannia for a woman of equal rank to a knight." She paused. "It also is the name of the Queen piece in French chess."

"Ooh, now you can have two queens, Zero!" Milly teased. "What a naughty boy!"

"Dame…" Shirley said, testing the sound of the name. "That works!"

"But that makes it sound like she's an old lady!" Arthur complained.

"Don't let any female knight hear you say that," Kallen said sharply.

"They can't," Arthur grumbled. "Outside of Persona-users, people can only hear me meow."

"Are you decided?" Lelouch asked Shirley. "Will you be Dame henceforth?"

"Yes, Zero!"

"Sorry we're late!" a familiar voice called out. "It's good to see you! Though I didn't expect there would be so many of you…"

Nunnally entered Mementos in her guise as a phantom thief, followed by Alice and three other girls, though one of them appeared old enough that perhaps "woman" would be a better descriptor. As for their thief outfits, Nunnally and Alice were the odd ones out among the irregulars. Each of the other Irregulars wore what resembled pilot suits, which while stylized, were of a uniform design, dark purple, almost a shiny black, with red trim, and were closer to regulation than Nunnally's. Lelouch supposed that if they had all suffered through the same experiments and escaped at the same time they might have very similar ideas of rebellion, and accordingly their attire reflected that unity of purpose.

"So these are the Irregulars," he murmured.

"That's some outfit," Milly muttered as she saw Nunnally. "I didn't know she had it in her."

Lelouch ignored her and stepped forward. "Greetings! I am Zero, and I speak for the Black Knights!" The Black Knights introduced themselves by their codenames in turn.

The woman, who had dark hair and an elegant deep blue mask, stepped forward. "You may call me 'Order'. I am the leader of the Irregulars." She gave a wry smile. "Or at least, I was." She glanced down at Nunnally. "Since our latest member joined, her power has proved versatile enough that I have relinquished command in the field to her, so that she may best adapt our strategy to changing conditions. Nemo here has told me quite a bit about you, though I did not think that you would be the leader of the Black Knights."

"I am Speed," Alice said, introducing herself to the others.

"I'm Power!" a dark-skinned girl with a bow in her hair said, an impish expression on her face. It was hard to describe her mask… it was just so busy and brightly decorated… perhaps garish was the best word.

"My codename is Land," the last girl, with pale hair styled into a pair of dangling braids in front, said quietly, almost hidden behind Order. Her mask took the form of a pair of goggles, which seemed to be projecting a constantly updated stream of information in faintly glowing green characters into her eyes.

"Medjed told us about you," Lelouch said. "He said you escaped as he broke out of the Code-R laboratory in Narita."

Order frowned. "Mao," she said distastefully. "But yes, Medjed was what he called himself after they forcefully awakened his Persona. He wasn't quite right in the head even before they did that final experiment on him. But when he gained his power, it cost him whatever sanity he had left."

"He was like a cuckoo clock!" Power piped up.

"Even after what had been done to us, we couldn't subscribe to his brand of justice…" Land murmured. "He would hurt too many innocent people for his revenge."

"So he turned on us!" Alice added. "We didn't have our own Personas yet, so we couldn't fight him."

"Retreat is at times the only option," Land nodded.

Shirley stepped forward. "These experiments…" she said, her voice choking up. "What exactly did they do to you? And… is it true… what Medjed said…. that… that my father…?"

"You do not want to know what they did to us, or the countless others who did not survive," Order replied. Beside her, Land shuddered in recollection. "As for your other question… You must be Joseph Fenette's daughter, correct?"

Shirley nodded.

"I'm sorry. I don't know exactly what Medjed told you. But your father was one of the leading scientists for Code-R."

"No…" Shirley murmured, her shoulders slumping and tears forming in her eyes. "Father… How could you…. Why…?"

Lelouch stepped up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I didn't want to believe it. But on some level, I knew Medjed wasn't lying," Shirley said between sobs. "Still, why would he do something so horrible? I can't understand it at all…"

She looked up at the Irregulars. "I know it can't make up for anything that my Dad put you through, but I'm so sorry… He wasn't all bad though… I want you to know that… he was nothing but gentle and kind to me…"

"There's no need for you to apologize, Dame," Nunnally said. "You had no way of knowing. I think I speak for the other Irregulars when I say that they don't blame you at all for what your father did."

"Only a deranged mind like Medjed's would think to punish someone who had nothing to do with those crimes," Lelouch agreed.

"Thank you, Nun- um… Nemo," Shirley corrected herself.

"So where do we go from here?" Leila asked.

"The Irregulars are willing to cooperate with the Black Knights where our interests align," Order replied.

"However, we will remain an independent group," Nunnally added.

Order nodded. "Any attempts by the Black Knights to impede the operations of the Irregulars or prevent any of its members from carrying out their objectives will be considered hostile acts, and will signal the termination of any alliance or truce between us."

Alice looked pointedly at Lelouch.

"Likewise," he replied. "We can accomplish far more together than by working against each other, and Nemo has vouched for each of you. That being said…" he glanced back at his fellow teammates. "The Black Knights do not kill, except as a last resort. Medjed left us with no other choice, but killing is generally counterproductive to our goals. Judging from the fact that you chose to change that Colonel's heart instead of inflicting a mental shutdown upon him, I trust that you understand that as well."

"It was Nemo's idea," Alice said softly.

"Though I admit, I've always been opposed to violence when it can be avoided," Land said.

"That's why you have no combat ability!" Power shouted. "I still say we should have just bashed that colonel's head in!"

"Now, Power," Order reprimanded, "Land is as much an indispensable member of our team as any of us. Her scanning and support abilities are second to none."

"Hear that, Bishop?" Arthur said. "Sounds like you can rejoin the front lines full time… if the Irregulars are willing to loan Land to us."

"That could be arranged… on a joint heist," Order nodded. She turned to Nunnally again. "Nemo, will you serve as a liaison between us and the Black Knights? Seeing that you share a roof with their leader, I can think of no one better suited for the task."

"I will," Nunnally nodded.

"So it is decided."

Lelouch would be lying if he said that he liked the idea of Nunnally venturing into the Metaverse, but at least this way he could keep tabs on her activities with the Irregulars, and continue to protect her.

But… a thought crossed his mind. What if in his desire to protect Nunnally, he had been holding her back all along?

With her sight and mobility restored in the Metaverse, Nunnally had become almost an entirely different person, who was now fiercely determined to protect her newfound independence, even finding the strength to stand up to him. In some ways, that determination reminded him of how their own mother, Marianne, had stood up to an entire court of jealous nobles to protect them. But back in the real world, Nunnally reverted to being as meek as ever. He supposed that she had to act as she had always done since their mother's death to avoid rousing his suspicions, but he realized there was another reason why Nunnally hadn't opened her eyes, even though she had proved herself more than capable of doing so.

Deep down, a part of Nunnally wanted to remain dependent on him. If she were to overcome her blindness in the real world, then that part of her feared that he might not need to care for her as much as before. That fear had only gained traction as he become involved in the Metaverse, leading the Black Knights on heist after heist, all the while spending less and less time with her. As long as Nunnally's legs remained crippled, there would always be some things she couldn't do on her own, but for everything else…

He was the one in Nunnally's way.

The realization was a bitter one for him, but the proof was right before his eyes. Not only had she evidently been able to take care of herself in the Metaverse for however many weeks, but she had found companions of her own that she could rely on, outside of his own circle of friends on the Student Council. That she possessed the Wild Card in her own right was the final nail in the coffin to any doubts he had. Given time, she could grow to be his equal in the Metaverse. Perhaps she would even surpass him.

So wasn't it time that he started truly treating Nunnally as his equal, rather than simply someone he had to protect?

Just as Nunnally's star was no longer the only light that guided him, Nunnally was more than capable of shining on her own.

The Black Knights and Irregulars discussed other things, including Mementos, but Lelouch only distantly followed the conversation.

xXx

"Nunnally…" he told her as they arrived back at their quarters in the Clubhouse. "There's something I have to tell you."

"Lelouch?" She asked, her eyes once again sealed shut.

"It was wrong of me to try to hold you back. I thought I was protecting you, but…" He shook his head. "I won't be here forever, Nunnally. Even stars eventually burn out. One day, you'll need to face the world on your own terms. But you've already taken your first steps toward doing so… I'm proud of you, Nunnally."

Nunnally seemed taken aback.

"There's still a lot you have to learn. But that's true of any of us, isn't it? Life is always waiting to throw new surprises at us. We'll keep growing and changing until our light is finally extinguished. The unknown can be frightening, and it can be more comfortable to crawl back and hide in the familiar, pretending that the changes around us don't exist. But if we have hope, we can face that future and create a brighter tomorrow. I may not need to be your protector…. but I can be your guide. So please, Nunnally. Open your eyes, and claim your future."

"Lelouch… I…" Nunnally stammered.

"No matter what happens, Nunnally, I'll always be your brother, and I'll be there if you truly need me. " He held out a finger to her. "Pinky promise?"

"We both broke the last one," Nunnally frowned.

"Would you prefer that we each swallowed a thousand needles, Nunnally? Or shall we just call that one even?"

Nunnally shook her head. "No." Feeling across the nearby table, she found a pair of needles, handing one to Lelouch and keeping one for herself. "We just need one each." However, she didn't move to swallow it. Instead, she held out her needle toward his outstretched pinky, while raising her own pinky toward his needle.

His understood her intent immediately. A blood oath. "Nunnally, you know that we don't-"

"No more lies, brother. No more secrets between us," Nunnally said insistently, her hands trembling. "Do you so swear?"

Lelouch relented. "I so swear, Nunnally."

With that, they pricked each other's pinkies with their needles, red droplets of blood welling from the tiny wounds. Lelouch inwardly recoiled a bit at hearing his sister wince in pain at his hands, but he accepted her pinprick without complaint. It was a small penance next to how much he had lied to her and stunted her personal growth. But then….

Nunnally opened her beautiful violet eyes in the real world for the first time since their mother's death.

"Big brother…" she murmured.

He had thought his bond with Nunnally to be unbreakable. But in that moment, his bond with Nunnally transfigured into something new, its strength growing exponentially greater than before.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath

Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion

And break the yoke of thy heart.

Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret

of the Star, granting thee infinite power…

The new power that Nunnally had granted him was fearsome indeed. Lucifer, the strongest persona of the Star Arcana. It would be a long time before he would have the power to successfully summon and control a Persona as mighty as the Light-Bringer, said to be the brightest angel who was eventually cast down into Hell for his rebellion against God. What would Nunnally think if she knew that a Persona such as Lucifer was the ultimate realization of their bond?

But… At the same time, Lelouch felt raw power resonating within Nunnally. Of course. He was one of her confidants too, wasn't he? Did he also represent the Star for Nunnally? Or did he represent another part of the Fool's Journey for her?

No matter the answer, he knew that their renewed bond was mutual, and would endure for eternity.

"Aishite imasu," Nunnally whispered. Britannian didn't have the proper words to adequately express some feelings.

"Aishiteru, Nunnaly," he replied. Several moments passed in silence between them. 'Now let's get that wound of yours cleaned and bandaged."

"Okay."

xXx

He tucked Nunnally into bed and returned to his own.

"Pleased with yourself?" Tsu asked.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. As if I'd do that with my little sister."

"You keep telling yourself that," Tsu smirked.

"I'm telling you, nothing of the sort happened!"

"So you'd do it with one of your other sisters? The Third Princess, perhaps?"

"Why is it that you-"

"She's just teasing you, Mr. Lelouch," a small voice said.

"Shi? When did you get here?"

"I came over here so you and Miss Nunnally could have some time alone together. She seemed really happy, and I didn't want to disturb either of you."

Lelouch looked down at Shi incredulously. "Don't you realize how that sounded?"

Shi's eyes went wide. "Did I say something wrong, Mr. Lelouch?"

Tsu just laughed.

 **A/N:**

 **Special thanks must go out to one of my readers, who sent me a skit in which the Black Knights were discussing ideas for Shirley's code name. Some of the dialogue and ideas within it were so compelling to me that it seemed a shame not to have them see the light of day outside of a PM. With that reader's permission, I took their skit and adapted it for official inclusion in my story.**

 **And Nunnally's resolution! Lelouch's realization and maxing her Star Confidant just unfolded as I wrote the chapter, although I hadn't initially planned for it when I started the chapter. As I think I've said a number of times, I favor a "discovery" approach to writing. I plan the overall arcs of the story and the major plot points therein, but I allow myself to "discover" the details as I write, sometimes with entire scenes presenting themselves totally unplanned. I believe that this method helps everything flow organically, and if I'm pleasantly surprised by a development then hopefully so will my readers.**

 **And no, Lelouch did NOT sleep with Nunnally. Of course, the subtext is there, but that's par for the course in Code Geass.**


	43. The Birthday Bash

While classes were over for the summer, the next few days saw a flurry of activity at Ashford Academy, not least of which was throwing a large party among the members of the student council.

Indeed, there was plenty to celebrate. Not only had Nunnally regained her sight, but they needed to make up for having forgotten Shirley's birthday earlier. Suzaku's birthday, just two days after Shirley's, also needed to be celebrated, since no one had thought it was right to throw a party when Shirley had been kidnapped. Rivalz's birthday was in just a few days, and Milly's four days after that, so since they were already celebrating Shirley's and Suzaku's birthdays, it was decided to roll them all together into the rather wordily named Ashford Academy Student Council Summer Birthday Bash and Nunnally's Eye-Opening Celebration Party.

Everyone seemed to be having fun. Lelouch supposed that was a good thing. He still worried though about the Black Mask who they had encountered in the circulation system beneath Ashford Academy in the Metaverse. From the way the assassin had talked, it seemed that the Black Mask knew exactly who they were, which once would have been his cue to flee Ashford with Nunnally, go into hiding, and establish new identities for themselves. That the Black Mask had not turned them in yet despite having had every opportunity to do so if they desired was a small comfort. "You are being watched." That was what the Black Mask had said. But if he were stop showing up at Ashford Academy, that would doubtlessly be noticed by that spy and detective among them, Rolo Haliburton, who might in turn report it to his superiors, putting the rest of the Black Knights and Student Council at risk.

"Hey, loosen up, Lelouch!" Milly said, coming up to him. "You should be happy, not brooding! Sure, a lot of girls like brooding guys, but there's a time and a place for everything."

"Nunnally is doing remarkably well," he conceded. He had previously done quite a bit of research into cases in which individuals recovered from blindness, in preparation for the day that Nunnally might open her eyes again, though he had started to think that it might never come. Normally, someone who had newly gained the ability to see where they could not before would have significant difficulties with depth perception, object recognition, or reading facial cues, simply because they had no existing schema to match what they saw to. Nunnally had been able to see for the first several years of her life, so at least these schema existed for her. But then there was the fact that her vision, even once her eyes were open, should have deteriorated from years of darkness and disuse. Yet Nunnally could apparently see perfectly now.

"Remarkably well is an understatement," Milly said, echoing his unstated thoughts. "I'm sure the doctors would consider it a medical miracle. But I wonder if it's something more than that. Maybe…"

"Cognition?" Lelouch murmured so that only she could hear him. He couldn't discount the possibility. While Cognition for the most part appeared to be limited to the Metaverse, he did have an example in Arthur of Cognition affecting sensory perceptions, namely hearing, in reality. Could the same be true of Nunnally's sight?

Arthur was there on Nunnally's lap, who was petting him. Nunnally appeared to be holding a conversation with him, though those members of the Student Council who had never been to the Metaverse would only hear contented purrs. Alice was there as well, as she had been invited by Nunnally, and stood by the side of his sister's wheelchair.

"There's been something I've been meaning to ask you," Lelouch said, his eyes on Nunnally's partner in the Irregulars. "About Alice…"

"You mean how she enrolled at Ashford Academy?" Milly replied. "That's easy. Nunnally asked if I could do a favor for a friend of hers, so I pulled a few strings. Being the headmaster's granddaughter has a few perks. I had assumed you knew about it already, so I didn't say anything. She was paying her own way, so that kept anyone from grumbling too much about it."

Lelouch suspected that it was less of "paying her own way" and more of "outright bribery" to overlook something as glaring as forged credentials for a person who was legally dead. For a moment, there was the question of where Alice would have gotten so much money; tuition at Ashford Academy was not cheap, especially if she was paying extra in bribes. Then again, the Irregulars were phantom thieves of hearts, just like the Black Knights, and as he had discovered, stealing from Palaces could be quite lucrative, far more so than illegal gambling on chess matches. If Alice was putting most of her own share of the loot toward her tuition at Ashford, it might be possible. Perhaps Nunnally was contributing as well, so it would not be as much of a burden on her friend.

Vaguely, Lelouch wondered where the other Irregulars were staying. They were all of school age, with the possible exception of Order, though even if that was the case, he doubted she could be much older than Milly. But that would have to be a conversation for another time.

"We should rejoin the others," Milly said quietly.

"Indeed," he nodded.

"Lelouch!" Nunnally said as she saw him approach, her violet eyes sparkling with delight. "It's so wonderful to be able to see you and all of your friends after so long!" Of course, Nunnally had already seen several of them in the Metaverse, and as Black Knights no less, but she was putting on a very convincing performance of seeing them for the first time. Alice did her part as well, acting as if she hadn't murdered Mao just days before, though she continued to hover close to Nunnally, her eyes constantly surveying their surroundings.

"They'd been described to me," Nunnally continued, "but now that I can actually see them with my own eyes… The girls on the Student Council are all so pretty! Milly… Kallen… Shirley… you too, Nina!" Nunnally said, catching sight of the budding scientist, who had seemed to wilt as soon his sister had begun praising the other girls. Hearing herself called pretty as well, Nina forced a slight smile, but it was clear that she thought that Nunnally was simply trying to spare her feelings.

"It really is incredible, Nunnally, that you were able to open your eyes after so long," Suzaku said warmly. "How did it happen?"

"Um, it's hard to explain…" Nunnally said, offering him what looked like an innocent smile, though Lelouch knew that she was putting on an act for him, as she couldn't explain her involvement with the Irregulars to him. He would be as sure to disapprove of their actions as he did those of the Black Knights. "I just really wanted to see again, and my eyes opened."

"Huh? So it was as simple as that all along."

"I guess so," Nunnally said, glancing at Lelouch. "Oh… I almost forgot!" Her eyes lit up again. "This is for you, Suzaku!", she said, pushing a small box into his hands. "I have ones for Shirley, Milly, and Rivalz too! Happy birthday to all of you!"

Suzaku opened the box that Nunnally had given him. "They're origami cranes…" he murmured.

"I made them myself!" Nunnally said proudly. "May they help your wishes come true!"

"Nunnally… thank you," Suzaku smiled.

"That's so sweet of you, Nunna!" Shirley beamed.

"This is some Japanese thing?" Rivalz asked. "I don't really get it, but I do appreciate the thought."

"Sayoko taught you how to make these, didn't she?" Milly said knowingly.

"That's right!" Nunnally replied happily.

Since Nunnally had gotten the ball rolling, the rest of them gave their gifts in turn. Lelouch couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. Every person whose birthday was being celebrated was one of his confidants, and as such he had a vested interest in their reactions to his gifts, something that he couldn't help but feel a bit slimy about. Then there was his increasingly complicated love life to worry about. If his gifts to Shirley or Milly were taken in the wrong way, whether by them or by Kallen, the results could be disastrous.

"A new motorcycle helmet and googles!" Rivalz grinned. "These are so much cooler than my old ones! Thanks, Lelouch!"

"Swim trunks?" Suzaku asked Lelouch.

"The Student Council will probably be going on a beach trip some time during the summer. You could use another pair."

"Got it. Thanks, Lelouch."

Next up was Milly.

"Riding boots! How did you know that I had started collecting them lately, Lelouch?"

"I've been around you for a long time, Madam President. I know what you like."

"Maybe we should go riding together one day, just you and me," Milly said suggestively, earning her glares from both Kallen and Shirley.

"I'm just kidding!"

Finally, it was time for Shirley's gift. This was the one he was most anxious about. Shirley was in love with him to the extent that it had caused her to form a Palace. While she had been able to come to terms with her feelings, he didn't want to hurt her again. He was sure that it was something that Shirley wanted, but Milly's gift had been significantly more expensive. Would Shirley appreciate the thought that had gone into his gift for her, or would she instead feel slighted?

He needn't have worried.

"Thank you, Lulu! I've been looking everywhere for this album!"

Masquerade. How oddly fitting.

With presents out of the way, all that was left was for the Student Council to enjoy slices of an enormous chocolate cake that had been specially catered for them, decorated with rich, creamy frosting, glaze, fresh fruit and nuts, and so many candles (seventy in all, seventeen each for Shirley, Suzaku, and Rivalz, eighteen for Milly, plus one in the middle for Nunnally) that it was a wonder that they hadn't needed a fire permit. Or maybe Milly was just skirting that rule.

Four verses of "Happy Birthday" later, plus a new verse that Milly apparently made up just for Nunnally, the candles were extinguished, and the Student Council was cutting into the cake. Of course, there was ice cream as well.

It was utterly decadent, and Lelouch knew that a part of Kallen was bristling at the thought of enjoying it while so many Japanese people had to do without in the ghetto. But then an uncharacteristically devilish expression crossed her face, especially for her meek guise at school. Taking her fork, she scooped up part of his cake and some of the vanilla ice cream next to it, before raising it to his mouth.

"Girlfriend's prerogative," she whispered, affecting a sickeningly sweet voice. Was that her idea of how a stereotypical noblewoman was supposed to act with her romantic partner, and meant as part of her cover? If that was the case, she was overdoing it by being far too bold. Or was Kallen's jealousy acting up, prompting her to break character by conspicuously "claiming" him in front of all those present?

It would do no good to deny Kallen in either case, so he let her slide the dessert-laden fork into his mouth.

The cake and ice cream melted in his mouth.

Looking awfully pleased with herself, Kallen then proceeded to use the same fork to feed herself a piece of her own slice of cake.

"I never thought I'd see that from Kallen," Milly chuckled.

"An indirect kiss!" Shirley gasped. "Oh, Lulu…"

Lelouch felt his cheeks flush. But with everyone here together, he felt a tiny bit closer to all of his friends at Ashford Academy.

xXx

The members of the Student Council gradually dispersed, fighting off catatonia induced by all of the sugar that they had consumed in the cake. There was still a fair amount of cake left though. There was no way that even the entire Student Council could have eaten it all in one sitting. Lelouch thought he might take some of it up to Shi. He didn't know if the concept of a birthday even had meaning to the wardens of the Velvet Room, but outside of her visits to Nunnally and her own interactions with him, Shi's existence seemed utterly miserable, trapped in a blue prison and enslaved to a tyrannical master. Shi needed more joy in her life, and he was sure that she would enjoy a slice of cake. Then again, Tsu would probably demand some too, if she saw him bringing some to her sister, though she would probably mutter that it would have been better if he brought her pizza.

There was another member of the Student Council who had lingered after the others had departed, Rolo. He seemed rather pensive. Any interaction with Rolo necessarily carried with it some risk, but he had still formed a tentative bond with the spy, the Moon. Perhaps this was an opportunity to gain insight into the progress of the investigation into the Black Knights.

Lelouch walked up to him. "Rolo, what's wrong?"

Rolo sighed. "Every time I think I find a lead, it turns out to be a dead end."

"What do you mean?"

"Call it a crazy theory of mine, but I almost thought Shirley might know something about Medjed."

Lelouch froze, though he forced himself to keep a neutral expression before Rolo picked up on his unease.

"What makes you think Shirley would know anything about Medjed?" Lelouch asked cautiously.

"She went missing right around the same time that Medjed made his challenge to the Black Knights, so I thought that he might have been the one who took her."

"Why assume that Medjed kidnapped someone at all?" Lelouch asked, choosing his words carefully. "If I recall correctly, Medjed said, 'I will have taken some _thing_ important from you.' He didn't say, 'some _one_ important," did he?"

"But that's not mutually exclusive, is it, Lelouch? Besides, Medjed said that if the Black Knights didn't find him within two weeks, that what he took might not survive? Would he really use the word 'survive' if he wasn't talking about a person?"

"Medjed also said he would admit defeat if the Black Knights successfully retrieved what he took. That hasn't happened yet, and there are five days left until his deadline. Shirley was found and Medjed didn't make so much as a peep about it, so he couldn't have taken her."

"Someone kidnapped her. Why else was her roommate knocked out, and how else did Shirley receive what appeared to be a stab wound? Besides, aren't you overlooking the obvious, Lelouch? What if the Black Knights have already killed Medjed? He wouldn't be able to make any sort of statement if he's dead."

"But what sort of connection would Shirley have to the Black Knights? It's said that they killed her father, so I'm sure there's no love between them. Maybe the Black Knights would want to tie up a loose end after her father's death, but then wouldn't Medjed be doing them a favor? No matter how I look at things, it just doesn't make sense."

"Hence my frustration."

Lelouch looked carefully at Rolo. "But there's something else on your mind, isn't there? You looked distant during the party."

"I've never been to such a party before," Rolo said softly. "I felt overwhelmed."

"You've never been to a party?" Lelouch asked incredulously.

"Well, that's not entirely true. I've been to parties, but only for business, not for fun or celebration. I told you that since I work as a detective, I've never stayed in one place for too long. But that's not entirely true either. For my early childhood, I was raised in an orphanage. I never knew my parents. I'm told they died when I was very young. It was a cold and cruel place…. Some of the other children there didn't make it, but their deaths were covered up."

"But then you got out?"

"You could say that. Of course, you never really leave a place like that, do you?"

Lelouch nodded. "I suppose not. I trust that you've already looked into our backgrounds?"

"What kind of detective would I be if I didn't, especially when the Black Knights probably started at this school?"

"Then you may know that my father sent Nunnally and myself here to be educated. But really, it was really because he couldn't be bothered to take care of us himself after our mother died. He abandoned us." That was a sanitized version of his history, which he had given to any member of the Student Council who started to pry too deeply into his background. It would hardly be a unique story in Britannia, and as he always said, the best lies contained elements of truth. Indeed, his exile to Japan had been most educational for him.

There had been a time when he had… idolized his father. A time when he thought Charles zi Britannia was the greatest man in Britannia, if not the world. He had even said that during his fateful audience with the Emperor, when he was struggling to understand how a man who was so wise and powerful as his father could idly stand by as his supposedly favorite wife was murdered, and her daughter left crippled and blinded.

His father had callously shattered those illusions, revealing that he had never cared about them at all. They were dead to him, from the moment they had been born, and he doubted that his father had ever truly loved their mother at all.

Who would he have become if not for that hail of bullets, or his reckless defiance of his father? Lelouch could almost see that man in his mind's eye, a distorted reflection of himself who was everything that he hated. His Shadow, a cruel, imperious prince, his cold calculations untempered by friendship or love, save perhaps for his own immediate family, who remained fully committed to Britannia's manifest right to conquer the world, and who would lead its armies to crush all opposition, the Emperor's favorite enforcer. Perhaps that Black Prince would have one day come into conflict with the Emperor, perhaps even overthrowing Charles zi Britannia, and seizing the throne of Britannia himself the moment the Emperor showed weakness, in perfect accord with Britannia's social Darwinist ideals.

That was Lelouch vi Britannia, as he could have been. As he likely would have been. With a start, Lelouch realized that in a sense, being exiled to Japan was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. But all the same, he could never forgive his father what he had done.

"Lelouch?" Rolo asked.

"I'm sorry. I was lost in a memory."

"You know, I think we're more alike than we realized, Lelouch."

Something resonated within Lelouch as the Moon's power waxed within him.

"Maybe we are."

xXx

The next day, Milly assigned him to tutor Shirley to help her prepare for her make-up exams, nominally because she had missed her exams while she was in the hospital, and in any case had been in no condition to study for them in the days leading up to her kidnapping. While all of that was true, Lelouch suspected that it was just a smokescreen for him to finally fill Shirley in on his past, since as a member of the Black Knights, she would eventually find out the truth, so it would be for the best to just get it out of the way.

"I heard that you scored in the top ten in our year on the exams," Shirley said. It was just the two of them in the Student Council room, which had a sign reading "Studying in Progress: Do Not Disturb", taped to the door. "Nina told me. I knew you had it in you, Lulu, if you actually chose to apply yourself."

"In the past, I had a good reason not to."

"I see…" Shirley frowned. "That girl… Noire… You said she was your half-sister. But who is she really?"

"Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Empire, and sub-Viceroy of Area 11."

Shirley stared at him for a moment, and then her expression changed to annoyance. "Very funny, Lulu! I'm asking you a serious question, and your first response is to try to pull my leg like that? Kallen was right! You really are liar, aren't you?"

"I'm being completely serious, Shirley. That was Princess Euphemia, and she is my half sister, though it had been years since I had seen her when she came to Japan."

"No way! That would mean you and Nunna…" Shirley gasped. "Each have some royal blood…."

"We do."

"So, let me get this straight! I don't follow the imperial family that closely, but I'm guessing it was something like this. You, Nunnally, and Princess Euphemia all have the same mother, but your mother then had an affair with another man, and you and Nunna were sent here because you would have been seen as an embarrassment to the imperial family and they wanted you away from the court in Pendragon?"

"Don't you remember what I told you, Shirley? Nunnally and I were sent here by our father after our mother died. Princess Euphemia and I have different mothers, but we share the same father."

"Oh, right… Sorry… I was just rambling there-" Shirley's eyes widened, and her voice trembled. "Wait… that means… if you and Princess Euphemia have the same father… that means…. Your father… Your father is…. The Emperor!" she squeaked.

"And my mother was the late Empress Marianne."

Shirley fainted.

xXx

Shirley blinked her eyes as she slowly regained consciousness. She felt lightheaded and found herself lying on the floor. Someone had elevated her feet to help blood and the oxygen that it carried with it flow back to her brain. Presumably that someone was the one kneeling next to her, saying words she couldn't quite clearly make out yet.

She blinked her eyes a few more times. Her vision started to clear, and the person's words started to make sense to her.

"Don't try to rise too quickly, Shirley. You fainted, but you're going to be okay." The voice sounded relieved.

Her lashes fluttered again, and she saw violet eyes gazing down at her with concern.

"Lulu…" she murmured, finally recognizing her crush. "I was having this crazy dream…. You told me… You told me Princess Euphemia was your half-sister, and that your father was the Emperor…"

"That wasn't a dream, Shirley. That just happened a minute ago."

"So…. The Emperor really is your father…" Shirley frowned. "Which means… you're a prince, Lu-" She cut herself off. "No… Prince Lelouch? Your Highness?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry… I don't know anymore."

"I'm still Lelouch, Shirley. Though I don't mind you calling me Lulu. Truth be told, I renounced my claim to the throne years ago, just before my father, the Emperor exiled Nunnally and myself to Japan. You see, I dared to question why he did nothing when my mother was murdered and Nunnally was crippled in a terrorist attack at the Aries Villa… except I don't think it was a terrorist attack. I think someone else in the royal family was behind it, and my father covered it up."

"Lulu… that's awful… I'm so sorry…"

"Why are you apologizing, Shirley? You weren't there, and that's all in the past now." He scowled. "Of course, my father then decided to send us to Japan as political hostages, lulling the Kururugi Administration into thinking that Britannia wasn't already planning to conquer the islands to seize control of their sakuradite. We were left for dead in the aftermath. Of course, Britannia blamed Japan for our supposed deaths, all the better to justify the oppression of the Japanese people, or as they were now called, Elevens."

"So that's how you know Suzaku! From before the war! But… you must really hate your father, don't you?" she said sadly. Horrific as learning the true nature of her father's work had been to her, she had still loved him dearly, and that wouldn't change. That Lulu could hate his own father so much… "You don't suppose that-"

"No. Reconciliation with my father is not possible."

"I see… I've always believed that nothing is unforgivable. You just don't want to forgive him. "

"You're too kind, Shirley. Some people simply don't deserve forgiveness."

Sensing that it would be pointless to continue that line of conversation further, she asked, "So what happened next, Lulu?"

"To make a long story short, Nunnally, Suzaku, and I traveled across the war-torn countryside for some time, eventually becoming separated from Suzaku. We then found our way here, where the Ashfords took us in. They used to be some of our mother's most loyal supporters in the Imperial Court, before their demotion. And the rest is history. Though since I've filled you in on who Noire is, I should let you know who the rest of your fellow Black Knights are…"

xXx

"That's a lot to take in, Lulu…" Shirley frowned. "It all feels so silly now… My crush on you, I mean…. You may no longer be a prince, but you're still of royal blood. Why would someone like you ever take notice of me? "I'm not a noble, I'm not as strong as the real Kallen, nor have I known you for as long as Milly, and I'm not as pretty as Countess Breisgau… I'm just…. Shirley."

"Did I ever ask you to be anyone but Shirley?"

"Huh?" Shirley's cheeks flushed red.

"You weren't there to see it, but when Medjed kidnapped you… What I mean is… if something were to happen to you, Shirley…" He shook his head. "Umm… what I'm trying to say, is that I need you Shirley, not only as a Black Knight, but here at Ashford as well! You're important to me, and-" His own cheeks were burning. "Don't say such things about yourself again! You're fine just as you are!"

"Lulu…" Shirley murmured. She shook her head. "You already have Kallen. But I'll remain by your side… And… thank you…." She glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh! Look at the the time Lulu! We really need to start studying, if I'm going to pass those exams!"

"Indeed."

"A bit awkward, but nicely done," Mermaid whispered to Lelouch from within him.

The power of the Lovers Arcana grew, filling Lelouch with a pleasant warmth.

 **A/N: Next up, Lelouch's next meeting with Kaguya and his reunion with Kirihara! After that, it will be time for the Student Council to have some fun in the sun!**


	44. Meeting with Kyoto

"You wished to meet with me, Your -"

Lelouch shot Jeremiah a warning look.

"My apologies," Jeremiah nodded in understanding. "I forgot myself, Mr. Lamperouge." It wouldn't do for Jeremiah to dress him as "Lelouch" here, and especially not "Your Highness."

"That's better."

Jeremiah took a seat across from him in the diner. Outside, the steady patter of rain could be heard. Most people did not want to be outside during Japan's rainy season, so there were relatively few people in the diner who might overhear them, but that also meant they had to be careful, as their voices would travel more easily.

"I want to thank you for the excellent work you did. My other contact confirmed your information, but it was only after the fact." What had taken Diethard so long?

"I will always give my utmost for you, Mr. Lamperouge. But in all fairness to the media man, I have access to sources that he does not."

"True enough."

"If I may, Mr. Lamperouge, to what do I owe the pleasure of an audience with you?"

Lelouch grimaced. "You're still being far too formal."

"As you wish."

"I called you here because I wanted to seek your advice."

"Advice on what, Mr. Lamperouge?"

"Relationships."

Jeremiah raised an eyebrow. "It's no surprise that a man like you would have many would-be suitors, Mr. Lamperouge."

"How did you know?"

"You are from excellent stock. I have no doubt that you inherited your mother's charm, and you are of course your father's son."

Lelouch scowled. "I am nothing like my father."

"I meant no offense, but I think you have more in common with him than you care to admit." He leaned closer. "Your father is known for his… prowess, and at Tanabata, I saw you in the company of several quite fetching young women. Your compatriots, are they not?"

Lelouch grimaced. His father might have 108 wives, but he imagined that most of them were attracted more to the power Charles zi Britannia wielded as Emperor, with the attendant prestige that being his consort would bestow upon them, to say nothing of the claim to the throne that it would give their children. It was a classic form of political alliance. As for his father, the historical purpose of allowing the Emperor to have multiple wives was nominally to preserve the royal bloodline, back from a time when infant and childhood mortality rates were high, but Charles zi Britannia had turned it into the embodiment of Britannia's social Darwinist ideology. The Emperor pitted his many offspring against each other, seeking only the strongest and most intelligent to lead Britannia's armies and administer the Empire on his behalf, while encouraging ruthless competition among them to cull the weak. Lelouch doubted concepts like love even factored into his father's mind at all.

"They are," Lelouch replied after several moments, returning to the task at hand. He felt irritated by how quickly his father had entered the conversation, though he supposed it had been inevitable, given Jeremiah's past employment as a royal guard.

"From the way the young lady with the red hair took your arm, I assume the two of you are in a relationship."

"That's correct."

"So you're having trouble with the relationship? Or perhaps you're unsure of how to handle the affections of so many young women."

"You could say that."

"If I may ask, Mr. Lamperouge, what makes you think that I would be able to give you the advice that you seek?"

"I thought…" Lelouch started, only for his words to trail off as he fumbled with what to say.

"I'm honored, Mr. Lamperouge. Really, I am. It's not that I've never been in a relationship before. Imagine what people at the academy would have said if I was unable to go out with or even talk to a girl. But unfortunately my past relationships lacked any real commitment."

"Villetta," Lelouch said.

"I will admit, there was some attraction between us. The other Purists certainly thought that was why I kept her around, and maybe they were right, at first. But quickly, I was impressed by her competence and her drive to advance herself. Though of course, she went too far in the end," he added. "I did miss her company when she transferred into Intelligence." Jeremiah sighed. "Yet even Villetta was but a shadow of your mother's brilliance. Other women couldn't possibly compare to her, and so it started to seem that my younger sister Lilycia would have to be the one to pass down the Gottwald name. Not that I would ever dare do anything improper where your mother was concerned," he said quickly, noticing the look that Lelouch was giving him.

"Started?" Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "So there's someone who managed to live up to your expectations after all?"

"It's nothing," Jeremiah replied. "Not yet anyway. Please forgive me for speaking such foolishness in your presence. We digress. As I was saying, I may not be the best person to ask for the advice you seek, but I will do my best for you."

Lelouch nodded. "That's all I can ask of you."

"If you are happy with your current relationship, and are merely worried about sparing the feelings of your other suitors, you should be forthright with them. To do otherwise is to unfairly lead them on, which will only hurt them more in the long run."

"That all makes sense… But what if I'm not sure about what I feel?"

"You would know if you were happy with the relationship as it is," Jeremiah said firmly. "The question is, are you dissatisfied with your partner, or yourself?"

It had to be himself. Kallen was loyal to a fault, but he was the one who had strained their relationship with feelings he couldn't control.

"It's not her," he told Jeremiah.

"I see." He paused. "How would you feel if she was with someone else? Or if the same was true for one of your other suitors?"

Intellectually, he knew he should be happy for them in such a case. It would mean that Kallen and Shirley had moved past what was, by any objective means, their unhealthy devotion to him. But other emotions shot through him. He didn't want to lose them. Without them, he would….

"Whatever your answer, Mr. Lamperouge, I will not think less of you."

Lelouch frowned. He hated to bring things back to his father, but he had to ask. "How did my mother cope with the fact that my father was married to many other women?"

"It is simple, Mr. Lamperouge. Your mother was confident in the belief that she was the one who your father loved above all else. As such, the other women couldn't possibly be a threat to her position at his side."

"If he loved her, he would have done something about her death. He wouldn't have abandoned us!" Lelouch hissed. In any case, that was of no help to him. He couldn't say honestly say that he loved Kallen or Shirley more than the other. Shirley had resigned herself to the fact that Kallen had triumphed over her, yet Kallen seemed to fear that Shirley might yet supplant her. He felt like a solution was staring him in the face, and for a moment he glimpsed it. Shirley might be willing to accept such an arrangement, but what would be in it for Kallen? No, it was just a bad idea. Kallen would never accept it.

Except maybe she would, part of him whispered.

But even then, he couldn't accept it, not yet.

Jeremiah frowned. "I sense that I've been of no help to you, Mr. Lamperouge."

Lelouch shook his head. "No. You've given me much to think about. It's just… complicated." He looked up. "We should meet again soon."

"It would be my pleasure, Mr. Lamperouge."

The Hanged Man resonated within Lelouch.

xXx

It was still raining the next day, when he met with Diethard.

"To be sitting on such a story, and to be unable to report it!" the media man confided in him. "It's been driving me crazy! Of course, I had to proceed cautiously, especially when I realized the likely connection between that girl and Code-R, hence my delay. I have no desire to end up as the next mental shutdown victim on the evening news."

"But you've figured out how to publish it anyway."

Diethard grinned wickedly. "Perceptive as always, Mr. Lamperouge. But it's better than that. Take a look." He opened his laptop, and turned it toward Lelouch. "Do you recognize this site, Mr. Lamperouge?"

He did. It was KnightWatch, but it looked…

"Whoever designed it was a complete amateur," Diethard continued. "But at long last, I managed to secure a position as one of its administrators. From there, I redesigned the site from the bottom up. I'm sure that you'll agree that it's a far more professional-looking platform. I also took the liberty of purging those accounts that obviously existed only to spread misinformation and sow discord. Now we can make sure that its users receive only the unvarnished truth about the Black Knights, all protected by the best encryption I could put together. Even the Viceroy couldn't shut it down if she tried. I've even added a polling feature! Here's the first official poll on the new and improved Knightwatch."

Lelouch glanced at the screen.

 **Do You Think the Black Knights Will Defeat Medjed?**

 **Yes: 42.3%**

A comments section was below, along with moderation tools for Diethard. Several users anonymously expressed support for the Black Knights. Others claimed that they didn't agree with the Black Knights, but they thought that the Black Knights would defeat Medjed anyway, given their successes in taking down Clovis and Black King. More said that Medjed would win because the Black Knights were almost out of time, or that they hoped that Medjed would "smite the wicked" and avenge the death of Prince Clovis.

Diethard was clearly a man of many talents. It would be exceedingly dangerous if one with such technical savvy ever turned against him.

"Of course, all of this is a means to shape truth in the mind of the public." Lelouch said after a moment. "To persuade them to accept your version of the truth."

"Our truth, Mr. Lamperouge," Diethard corrected. "You supply me with the information and the angle that you want, and I'll write the narrative to match." He dropped his voice to a whisper. "After all, your association with the Black Knights goes far deeper than one who simply attends the same school as their founding members, or even one who sympathizes with their cause. No simple high school student would be able to procure such information on a classified project run by the late Third Prince. Then there's the matter of your other requests for me. A mobster, a girl who is supposed to be dead… You're not going to try to tell me that you're not a Black Knight yourself, or at least working for them, are you?"

"If I'm in league with the Black Knights, then you are as well."

Diethard laughed. "Spoken like a true politician. Carefully not admitting to anything, and then turning it all back on me. But you needn't worry. Both you and I have undoubtedly have enough potential blackmail material on each other by this point to assure mutual destruction, but neither of us can betray the other without admitting to our own involvement. And why would either of us want that? Our relationship is symbiotic, and I for one wouldn't pass up this story for a lifetime!"

It was a deal with a devil. Lelouch sensed that if Diethard ever grew tired of the Black Knights, or found another who promised an even greater upheaval in society, he wouldn't hesitate to jump ship to pursue the newer and more exciting story. But for now, Diethard was useful to him, and Lelouch felt himself more immersed in the power of the Devil Arcana than ever.

 **Do You Think the Black Knights Will Defeat Medjed?**

 **Yes: 41.7%**

xXx

"I see you were expecting me again," Lelouch said as he greeted Kaguya outside the shrine. The rain had finally let up.

"That's right!" Kaguya said cheerfully. She became less chipper and more business. "I set up that meeting you wanted with Kirihara. If you're ready, I can take you to see him."

"Thank you, Kaguya. I've been looking forward to this."

"There is one teensy thing though," Kaguya said. "I'm not supposed to let outsiders know Kirihara's exact whereabouts." She took out a thick piece of dark cloth. "So you'll have to go blindfolded. Is that okay, Oni?" she asked, playful once again. "After all, it's this or a sack over your head."

"I have no objections," Lelouch told her. He felt he had a pretty good idea as to where they would be going, but the blindfold would help conceal his identity until his meeting with Kirihara.

"Okay! Bend down so that I can blindfold you."

Lelouch complied.

"There! Done!"

Tightly wrapped as the blindfold was around his face, Lelouch couldn't see a thing. Of course, for him it would only be a momentary inconvenience. Nunnally had lived in darkness for years, and he still couldn't help but marvel at what it must mean for her to be able to see again.

"Here, take my hand, Oni," Kaguya said. "I'll lead you to where we're going."

Lelouch let Kaguya guide him away from the shrine, and heard the door of a car open. After Kaguya's bodyguards patted him down, checking for any weapons that might be concealed on his person, he was ushered inside, and the door locked behind him. The car's engine hummed to life, and they were off. Kaguya seemed to be sitting to his side, to the consternation of her bodyguards, but they did as they were told.

They continued to ride in the car for an indeterminate time, but eventually Lelouch heard heavy doors opening to let them into an undisclosed location, which then closed behind them.

"We're here," Kaguya said next to him, helping him out of the car. Lelouch heard the sound of footsteps against metal as Kaguya led him forward.

Yes, he was certain he knew where they were: Mount Fuji. More specifically, Kirihara Industries' mining operation there, nominally conducted on the behalf of the Britannian regime, a tiered metal shell that defaced a whole side of the mountain that was held as sacred to the Japanese people. Indeed, it was the most iconic symbol of the Britannian occupation.

He had heard much about this place. For starters, Sakuradite mining was very dangerous and painstaking work. The pink stone was extremely unstable when disturbed, especially when impacted with any significant force. Miners had to painstakingly shave off bits of sakuradite from the ore, bit by bit, lest they trigger an explosion, killing or maiming the one who had triggered it, or causing the entire tunnel to collapse, burying all those within alive. Even in its liquid form, Sakuradite remained highly explosive. It was also said that the guards would summarily execute any intruders found on the premises. While ostensibly to protect the Sakuradite, an issue of national security for Britannia, Lelouch suspected that the true reason was to deter those who might seek to investigate Kirihara's activities too closely. Kirihara had not survived by being careless, and with that came a certain ruthlessness. To those who did not know him, 'Kirihara the Traitor' might have even seemed just as bad as any of the Palace rulers whose hearts the Black Knights had stolen.

But Kirihara would help the Black Knights. He was sure of it.

The route that they took through the Mount Fuji mining facility seemed circuitous, but eventually Kaguya announced that they had arrived.

"Is this the one you spoke of?" Lelouch heard a harsh and aging male voice ask. It was Kirihara's voice.

"He is," she replied firmly.

"Guards, wait outside," Kirhara ordered tersely.

"But sir!"

"If this person is who she says he is, this meeting requires the utmost secrecy. If he tries to leave without his escort or before I have recalled you, then he is not to be trusted, and should be eliminated at once. Now go!"

"As you wish, sir," they replied, though their reluctance was clear.

Once they had left, Kirihara spoke to Kaguya. "Remove his blindfold so that I may see his face."

Lelouch knelt so that Kaguya could do so, and the darkness lifted from his eyes. Amidst a backdrop of large pipes gleaming red in the lights that illuminated the chamber, there was a raised platform in front of him, framed by what appeared to be a torii, a Shinto shrine gate, only constructed out of metal instead of wood, and painted in alternating yellow and white. A man was seated cross-legged in the middle of the platform, utterly dwarfed by the torii. His features were concealed behind a black screen embroidered with golden flower patterns, but Lelouch knew that the man was Kirihara.

"You…" Kirihara said, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"I told you it was him!" Kaguya said cheerfully.

"Taizo Kirihara… it's been a long time," Lelouch said, knowing that his first objective had been cleared.

"Is it really you?" Kirihara asked. "It's been nearly eight years since that family received you as a hostage."

"Yes. I am Lelouch vi Britannia, and I've come seeking your help. But you may also call me Zero, leader of the Black Knights."

"Wait! You're a Black Knight?" Kaguya asked. Suddenly, she was practically upon him, her green eyes gleaming as she stared up at him. "You're the one who took down Clovis and the Black King! That's so cool! That's it! I've decided! You're going to be my future husband!"

"Wait, what?!" Lelouch thought.

"Kaguya!" Kirihara said sharply. "Is this how you conduct yourself, in such an undignified manner? You were taught better than that!"

"Our meeting was fate!" Kaguya retorted. "Besides, I'd much rather marry a hero like him than my own cousin!"

"Aren't you jumping into things too fast?" Lelouch asked, still off balance from her sudden declaration. "You barely know me! We've only met three times before today!"

"Nope! That's more than enough! Haven't you heard of love at first sight? Well, I suppose it's at second sight in this case…"

"I already have a girlfriend," he said, trying to dissuade her, though he felt very foolish having to say something like that in front of Kirihara.

"That doesn't matter! She and I can be your Court Ladies!"

"Enough!" Kirihara shouted, cutting Kaguya off. Pushing back the screen with a knobbed cane, he revealed himself to Lelouch. Kirihara hadn't changed much in nearly eight years, save for some more wrinkles. Seventy years old now, his skin was tanned from a lifetime's exposure to the sun, though he didn't seem to be getting much of it in here, and he was completely bald. He might have seemed decrepit, but the piercing gaze of his dark eyes revealed that his mind was as sharp as it had ever been. "Why reveal yourself as a Black Knight?"

"To gain your trust."

"Even though I collaborate with the colonial government?"

"We both know that's just a front. You pretended to be a traitor to the Japanese people to avoid tribunals, but you, along with Miss Sumeragi, are both leaders of the Six Houses of Kyoto, funneling intelligence and supplies to resistance groups across Japan."

"Indeed it is. You have no idea how much it pains me to desecrate Mount Fuji, once known for its clear waters and quiet beauty, now a place of hideous violation, bent to the Empire's will. But what do you seek to achieve by changing hearts?"

"The downfall of Britannia, and an end to the mental shutdowns throughout the Tokyo Settlement."

"I know not the means by which you change hearts, nor how many follow you in the Black Knights," Kirihara said. "Are you sure that you can do it?"

"I can, because I must."

Kirihara laughed. "So the flower planted eight years ago has finally bloomed! Very well, Lelouch, or shall I say, Zero! You shall have the aid of Kyoto behind you! What do you need?"

"Small arms, medicines, access to Kyoto's intelligence networks, and your counsel, plus incidental favors from time to time."

"That is easily arranged," Kirihara said, faintly grinning.

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast acquired a new vow

It shall become the wings of rebellion

that breaketh thy chains of captivity

With the birth of the Tower Persona,

I have obtained the wings of blessing that

shall lead to freedom and new power…

The Tower… was it because Kirihara had lived to see the ruin or desecration of all he held dear, while his own reputation was in tatters? Yet even as he awakened to the new Arcana, the Sun's power also increased within him.

"There is something you should know though," Kirihara said. "What we have discussed today must not leave this room, but especially not this. You said that you were you were also looking for the one behind the mental shutdowns."

"That's correct."

"Then it may interest you to know that while they have only come to the attention of the media this year, as far as I have been able to determine, the first known mental shutdown in Japan occurred soon after the Britannian invasion."

Lelouch felt a sudden dread pass through him.

"Are you saying-"

"I am. Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi was killed by what would eventually become known as a mental shutdown. The one responsible for his death is still unknown." Kirihara paused. "Be very careful, Lelouch. Whoever Genbu Kururugi's assassin is, he has been doing this for a long time."

 **Do You Think the Black Knights Will Defeat Medjed?**

 **Yes: 39.8%**

xXx

"The day upon which the terrorist known as Medjed promised to reveal the secrets of the Black Knights has come, but so far we have only heard silence from both the Black Knights and Medjed. Neither group has issued a statement of any kind! What does this mean? To find out, we've once again assembled our panel, with leading experts in counter-terrorism and criminal psychology!"

Lelouch turned off the broadcast. It was just drivel, as the networks desperately struggled to fill time as their anticipated story failed to materialize. The activity on KnightWatch was far more interesting, as Diethard leaked findings about Code-R onto the internet, redacted to remove any references to Shirley's family or the Irregulars. What he had put together was fragmentary, but it was still enough to work certain elements into a furor, while it would get others to at least question their government. Of course, the TV news couldn't report that, so they ignored it, and pretended that the far more scandalous story didn't exist.

"Are you pleased with yourself, brother?" Nunnally asked.

"Very."

"I'm still bothered about what happened to Medjed…"

"We've been over this, Nunnally. It had to be done. It was either him or us. Let it go. He's gone now, and I say good riddance."

"What happens next?"

"The Black Knights will seek their next target. As will the Irregulars, I presume."

"As long as there are people looking for Alice and her friends," Nunnally nodded gravely.

Lelouch chuckled. "Cheer up Nunnally! There's something we're forgetting! The school trip is just around the corner. Madam President has something special planned for us. I can tell. That should be fun. Then again, with Madam President, you can never tell."

Nunnally giggled. "She means well, though." Looking up, her eyes were drawn to the portrait hanging on the wall, Clovis' Treasure.

"That's Mom, and the two of us, back when we were at the Aries Villa…" She paused. "Clovis painted this, didn't he?"

"Technically, it's a Cognitive copy of the original painting, which is in the Government Bureau," Lelouch replied. "But yes, he did."

"I thought so," Nunnally replied sadly. "We'll get to the bottom of this, won't we? We'll find out why brother Clovis did those horrible things, why Alice and her friends had to suffer, and who's behind those Black Masks, right?"

"Yes, Nunnally. I promise."

 **A/N: Thus concludes the fourth arc of the story. I was originally planning to do Ashford Academy's summer trip next, but upon further thought, I have decided that it is better as part of the fifth arc, so the next interrogation scene will be up next, followed by the summer trip.**


	45. Interlude - Interrogation, Part 6

"So you didn't kill Medjed, but someone else, who was not the Black Mask, did? But then you met the Black Mask and learned that there was not just one but at least two Black Masks?" Cornelia raised an eyebrow. "Are there any other important details that you didn't see fit to mention earlier?"

"That's what happened," Lelouch told her. "I- Ughh…". He clutched his head. Refrain was still coursing through his veins. With his head in as much of a mess as it was, he had almost recalled events incorrectly, and while what he had originally told Cornelia had been technically true, it was much too close for comfort. If Cornelia decided that his testimony was of no further value to her, then the consequences of that could be fatal.

Cornelia looked at him appraisingly. Mustering an effort, Lelouch firmly met her gaze, signaling that he was still capable of intelligently answering her questions.

"Still, much of what you've told me about Medjed meshes well with what we already knew, and fills in the gaps nicely. It also explains how the Irregulars came to operate in the Tokyo Settlement as well." She nodded. "But what you said about the first Black Mask - he was officially sanctioned by the Empire! Yet I knew nothing about it! Who was the one giving him orders?"

"You already know the answer to that, don't you, Viceroy? The only royals with the sufficient clout to keep such an operation hidden from you in your own Area, and the capability to lead a conspiracy are Second Prince Schneizel and Emperor Charles himself."

"Is that a mere deduction, or do you actually recall their involvement? You're making serious accusations, Zero, especially those against His Majesty."

"Both of them had their hands in it," Lelouch said vehemently. A memory flashed to the surface of his mind. "Don't you remember Schneizel's visit to Japan?"

"He did go to Area 11 at that time, yes," Cornelia admitted. "He had come to personally conduct negotiations with the Chinese Federation, though he paused to inspect our forces at Shikine Island and visit some ruins on nearby Kamine Island…" Cornelia's eyes narrowed. "You were there on Kamine Island as well. Earl Apslund invited his fiancé and a few of her friends to the island while he investigated the ruins at Schneizel's request. Quite a serious lapse in judgment…". Her eyes flared in sudden anger. "But aren't I the one who's supposed to be asking the questions?! What does a bunch of ruins have to do with anything?"

"Schneizel thought they had a link to the Cognitive world."

"Did he now? I'll have you elaborate upon that later."

Cornelia shifted her files and placed a new picture before Lelouch. It showed a severe-looking Japanese man, in his late thirties, with spiky brown hair and prominent eyebrows. He was dressed in military attire.

"Lieutentant Colonel Kyoshiro Tohdoh. A member and strategist of the Japan Liberation Front, who won one of the Elevens' only victories in the war at Itsukushima, without the use of a single Knightmare Frame. For this he is sometimes called 'Tohdoh of Miracles' by the Elevens," Cornelia said disdainfully. "You knew him when you were a hostage at the Kururugi Shrine, and you came into contact with him again, most likely through your mutual connections to Kyoto."

"Moving onto your next and most ambitious heist to date…" Cornelia continued, pushing Tohdoh's picture to the side. In its place, she put down a photo of a young man with pale skin, almost unnaturally white. He was dressed in yellow ceremonial robes, with a red, wavy border around the neck, with a green sash securing a white piece of cloth that fell from his waist like an apron. The man's head was crowned by a white headdress with gold trim and a short white veil wrapping from side to side. His lips were painted so that they appeared lilac in color, and a red line was drawn down his nose, with three red diamonds fanning out at the base of his forehead, just between his eyes. As bizarre as his appearance was, his blue-green eyes were greedy and calculating.

"Gao Hai, one of eight High Eunuchs of the Chinese Federation. Officially, they were merely advisors to their Empress. However, the current Empress ascended to the throne when she was merely a young child, and is just twelve years old, so in practice they hold all power in the Chinese Federation between themselves. In particular, Gao Hai was placed in charge of the Chinese Consulate in Area 11, here in the Tokyo Settlement, and it was with Consul General Gao Hai that Schneizel was to conduct his negotiations."

Cornelia's voice became low and dangerous. "I had no love for the High Eunuchs. They were a venal and unmanly lot. But you just couldn't resist an opportunity to interfere with the negotiations and cause an international incident, could you? We're still dealing with the fallout from it, and the situation grows worse every day."

She reached for another photograph. "Of course, you couldn't have infiltrated the Chinese Consulate without help, even in the Metaverse." She placed the photograph on the table. "Li Xingke, 23, an officer in the Chinese Federation military, assigned with Gao Hai to the consulate." The man in the picture had long black hair that fell down his back, and was dressed in a blue vest in the Chinese style with yellow trim and straps, with a red hairband around the back of his head that kept his locks from obscuring his vision. "We have reason to think that he was plotting against Gao Hai and the other High Eunuchs even before you got involved."

Cornelia leaned closer. "Tell me, Zero. How did you steal Gao Hai's heart? And what did Schneizel really hope to achieve in his negotiations with him?"

"Very well then," Lelouch smiled. Slowly but surely, Cornelia was starting to see the bigger picture.

 **A/N:**

 **And the fifth arc begins! Next time, Ashford Academy's summer trip begins. It may take a chapter or two, but I'll see as I write. Thanks for sticking with the story, everyone!**

 **Edits: Made some minor corrections to the chapter, including the spelling of Kamine Island, and Xingke's age, as he would only be 24 in the second season. He would be 23 in this story.**


	46. Summer Vacation, Part 1 - Izu

"It's the moment you've all been waiting for!" Milly announced exuberantly. "Now that Shirley has passed her exams, everyone on the Student Council is finally free for vacation, and I've got a plan all ready to go!"

"What is it, Madam President?" Rivalz asked.

"You see, my fiancé was called to do some work on a desert island, and he invited me and 'a few of your friends' to come along," she said, making an imitation of what Lelouch assumed to be Earl Asplund's voice, adding a bit of a drawl to her words, though he couldn't be entirely sure, as he had never met the Earl before.

"Oh, that's neat," Rivalz started. Then he realized exactly what she had said. "WAIT! You have a fiancé?"

"Oh? I never mentioned it to you Rivalz?" Milly asked innocently. "We were engaged not that long ago. Earl Lloyd Asplund."

"He's an EARL?" Rivalz buried his face in his hands. "Why, Madam President, why?" He muttered. "There go all my dreams…"

"Um… anyways, as for our itinerary," Milly continued, rolling out a map. "We'll take the main high-speed line southwest to the Izu Peninsula. We'll stay there for a day or two. It's known for its beaches, caves, waterfalls, and hot springs. It also has a pretty good view of Mount Fuji."

Lelouch nodded. He was familiar with the Izu area, and had snuck over there with Suzaku from time to time. Genbu Kururugi had also owned a holiday home in Izu, and after the former Prime Minister's death, no, murder, Lelouch reminded himself, the vi Britannia siblings had been evacuated to it.

"After we're done in Izu," Milly continued, "we'll board the ferry to Shikine Island. There, we'll meet with my fiancé, and he'll escort us the rest of the way to Kamine Island. There we can enjoy some camping, hiking, and team-building exercises, as well as have the beach all to ourselves!"

"Kamine Island?" Kallen asked. "I'm not familiar with such a place."

"It's not on most maps," Milly chuckled. "State secrets, I suppose?" She shrugged. "But that makes getting the chance to visit it even more of a once in a lifetime opportunity, doesn't it?"

Lelouch grasped Milly's unstated meaning, though it would go over the heads of anyone present who was unaware of their involvement in the Black Knights. Earl Asplund had discovered or was working on something there, something possibly connected to the Metaverse, and Milly wanted to check it out.

"In that case, Madam President, I have to agree," Lelouch said, trying to contain a wicked grin. "It would be a shame to let this opportunity pass us by."

xXx

"It's going to be so fun going on a trip with everyone!" Nunnally said as they packed their bags.

"Indeed," Lelouch agreed. "But there is one matter of business that we have to discuss first, Nunnally."

"What is it Lelouch?"

"I'm concerned about that detective."

"Rolo?" She asked.

"He's the one. He might notice if there are no changes of hearts in Tokyo while the Student Council is on vacation. I think he's already suspicious of us. He wouldn't have come to this school otherwise."

"So you want the Irregulars to change hearts while you're gone?"

"Precisely," Lelouch replied. "Of course, simply changing hearts won't be enough. They'll have to claim responsibility for them in the name of the Black Knights."

"Their operations will be limited without me," Nunnally frowned. "I'm not sure that they'll like it. I don't want to put them in danger either."

"I'm not asking your friends to infiltrate a full-fledged Palace. All they have to do is change the hearts of a petty criminal or two in the uppermost levels of Mementos, those whose distortions are minor enough that their Shadows won't pose a serious threat. Besides, they survived before you joined them, didn't they? And we'll owe them a favor in turn."

"I can ask," Nunnally replied.

"Please do."

xXx

Their preparations complete, the Ashford Academy Student Council waited on the platform for their train to arrive at the station. To Lelouch's relief, Order had agreed to do as he requested, though she relayed to him through Nunnally in no uncertain terms that she fully expected him to honor his side of the agreement.

He was surprised however by what Order asked of him: to bring Alice along with them. Lelouch couldn't help but question the wisdom of Order's request. Wouldn't that mean the Irregulars would be down two members? But Nunnally assured him that Order and Power were more than capable of handling lesser Shadows by themselves, and Land would be there to provide them with support. Still, was simple enough, and it didn't hurt to have another Persona-user on their end, just in case.

That being said, Alice wasn't the only addition to their party. Sayoko accompanied them, nominally as a servant and chaperone. Arthur concealed himself in Nunnally's bag, which was left partially unzipped so that he could breathe. Leila joined them under the pretext of being a friend of Milly's family, and a prospective transfer student. "This will be her first real taste of how we do things here Ashford, so make her feel welcome!" Milly told the others. And Lelouch knew that Euphemia planned to rendezvous with them as well, though she would travel separately to Izu to avoid drawing too much attention.

What he didn't expect was to see a pair of green-haired sisters across from them on the platform.

What were Shi and Tsu doing here, and in plain sight of everyone else?

No, he knew why they were here at least. With two Wild Cards leaving Tokyo, of course the wardens of the Velvet Room would follow. They'd probably even set up temporary doors to the Velvet Room at their stops. They were bound to him and his sister by their contracts. That didn't explain why they were showing themselves so openly, but at least they were doing a surprisingly passable job of pretending to be tourists who just so happened to be boarding the same line as them, and they hadn't done anything yet that would force him to explain them to his classmates.

Of course, Shi and Tsu would have looked very out of place if they were still dressed as wardens. Evidently, they had bought themselves new clothes for the excursion, doubtlessly using the money that he paid for their services in the Velvet Room to do so. At least it wasn't all being spent on pizza. But he had noticed that even while Tsu was no longer deliberately overcharging him out of spite, and had even in fact started offering him "special discounts" on summoning Personas, the price to recall his more recent Personas was still rising rapidly, even exponentially. When pressed about this, Tsu had shrugged, saying that it took significantly more effort to revive more powerful Personas, and that they thus needed to be compensated accordingly for there to be any sense of equivalent exchange. Shouldn't he be grateful that he had progressed sufficiently to be summoning such expensive Personas in the first place?

"Besides," Tsu had smirked, "nobody said that you had to spend so much money on your little vanity project."

By that, she meant Arsene. Lelouch had begun retooling his initial Persona, first nullifying Arsene's former weaknesses in Lockdown, and then empowering Arsene with daily Persona sacrifices through the gallows. Arsene might have begun weaker than any of his other Personas, but at the same time, that meant that the demonic thief had the most room for growth, and had the potential to become truly fearsome, the embodiment of what it meant to be the Fool.

But if he had indulged in vanity, then so had Tsu. She had donned a sleeveless white top, cut to expose part of her midriff, a matching skirt, loose to permit freedom of movement, and high-heeled sandals on her feet. Was choosing white a subtle act of rebellion against having to wear blue all of the time in the Velvet Room? She had also gathered her long hair up in the back into a ponytail, though a long bang still framed her face on each side, and concealed her golden eyes behind what appeared to be designer sunglasses, or at least a convincing knock-off. Completing her look was a handbag slung over her shoulder, with a small Cheese-kun mascot keychain strapped to it, something she had undoubtedly received for being such a loyal customer of Pizza Hut.

Shi was more modestly dressed than her sister, and hadn't entirely abandoned velvet blue, but there were now other vibrant colors among it in the floral patterns on her blouse. She wore a small white sunhat to keep herself in the shade, with a blue fanny pack strapped around her waist, and had a disproportionately large Cheese-kun plushy in her arms, obviously a gift from her sister. In many ways, Shi's outfit was exactly what one would imagine for a tacky tourist, but even if he could without revealing that he knew the Velvet sisters, he doubted he would have the heart to tell her, not when she looked so happy to be traveling.

xXx

Soon, the Student Council plus Sayoko, Alice, Leila, Shi, and Tsu were aboard the high-speed train, en route to Izu. The trip was scheduled to take just 40 to 60 minutes, which would leave them most of the day to explore Izu.

Rivalz was still down from learning that Milly was engaged, but also seemed determined to make a rebound. He tried talking to Leila, remembering that he had seen her on the news before, and she politely listened, though Lelouch could tell that she was uncomfortable having her past "relationship" with Clovis brought up.

"What was I thinking?" Rivalz sighed despairingly as he gave up. "She's way out of my league, even more than Milly is. She was almost a royal princess, for heaven's sake! She even looks and has the manners of the part!"

"It's not the end of the world, Rivalz," Lelouch told him.

"Yeah, I know." Rivalz looked up. "Hey, Lelouch. Isn't that green-haired girl over there staring at you?"

Glowering was more like it.

"Do you know her? She's pretty cute. Looks all mysterious too."

"Hello, I'm right here!" Kallen said irritably, next to Lelouch. Immediately realizing that she had been too forceful, she adopted a meek voice and expression. "Um… what I mean is… Lelouch and I are already dating… so when would he be seeing… other girls? Not that it's wrong to be friends with them, but…". She faked a cough. "Excuse me… I think the heat is getting to me…. I think I'll rest now."

Tsu smirked in amusement, while Shi paid little attention to the heartache and jealousy in their train car. She was too focused on the countryside as it zipped by her, a look of joy on her face.

xXx

They disembarked at the city of Mishima, before transferring onto the Izuhakone Line, which would bring them south to the city of Izu, though it was a short journey compared to the first leg of their trip.

"We're here!" Milly announced. "From here, you can explore the interior, or venture out to the coast if you prefer! Tomorrow, we'll head out to the Izukyu Line, and head down to the port at Shimoda, where we'll catch the ferry! But wherever you go, stick together, and be sure to meet back here before dark. We don't want anyone going off by themselves and getting lost."

"Let's go," Kallen said, taking Lelouch by the arm.

There was a small core of new Britannian development around the station, but it was a far cry from the megastructure of the Tokyo Settlement. To Lelouch, the city looked much as it had after the war, small apartments, shops, and municipal buildings stretching out through the mountainous, forested countryside. Britannian's bombing campaign had largely focused on Tokyo and other major population centers, so Izu seemed in far better shape than the Shinjuku ghetto, with only the occasional ruined building, but there was nonetheless a feeling of decay that became more pronounced as they moved progressively further from the station, as structures gradually deteriorated without much-needed funds to see to their maintenance.

Tourism, the region's lifeblood, had certainly taken a hit, as relatively few Britannians would leave the comfort of the Tokyo Settlement's confines, and the ability of 'Elevens' to freely travel was restricted, whether by statute or by poverty, but some visitors still trickled in. Other industries, based on extracting the region's abundant natural resources also prevented local economic collapse. Forestry, fishing out of the port on Izu's western coastline, and the mining of gold and sakuradite, satellites to the much larger deposits on Mount Fuji, all sustained Izu, though their ores had already been nearing depletion when Britannia invaded. Then there were Izu's prized agricultural products, wasabi, which was extremely particular about where it grew, and shiitake mushrooms. But most of these industries had been taken over by Britannian owners, and heavy taxes ensured that most profits from Japanese-owned businesses flowed back to the Tokyo Settlement and the imperial coffers.

The Japanese people on the streets seemed to regard them warily. Even past its heyday, Britannian tourists in Izu were at least common enough that the locals had become acclimated to seeing them, and they didn't dare to turn away potential customers, lest their tenuous livelihoods slip away, but their fear and resentment of their conquerors was clear. To them, Kallen and himself looked no different than any other spoiled Britannian teenagers. The hot and sticky air only added to the oppressive atmosphere.

"I used to live here, you know," Kallen said softly as they walked. "We kept moving from place to place. We could never stay anywhere for too long. Whenever they found out, people would call my mother…" Her words trailed off.

Kallen's meaning was clear though. Even in the days leading up to the war, as tensions rose, angry Japanese people would have called Kallen's mother a whore for daring to love and sleep with a Britannian man, a prejudice that would grow only stronger after the invasion. That Kallen could pass as a full-blooded Britannian could not have helped matters.

Lelouch nodded. "I've been down here a few times myself."

Pausing, Lelouch saw a vendor hawking produce, fresh Japanese peaches for sale.

"Excuse me," he said to Kallen. "I'll be right back."

He went over to the vendor, and purchased three peaches. They were large, juicy, sweet, and perfectly in season, making for quite a treat. They were always Nunnally's favorite fruit since arriving in Japan, and he was sure Kallen would like them as well. The last peach he would enjoy himself.

"This is for you," he said, returning to Kallen and putting a peach in her hands.

"Lelouch, thank-" Kallen halted suddenly, staring at the peach in her hands to Lelouch and back again, her eyes distant, as if recalling something long forgotten.

"Kallen? Are you okay?" Lelouch asked in concern.

"You…" she whispered.

"Kallen?"

"We… met before… haven't we?" Kallen asked slowly. "Before any of this… here in Izu…. It was the day we were moving out of town… A peach came rolling out of nowhere… a strange Britannian boy came running after it… I realized that it was his, and that he had gone to some lengths to obtain it. A Japanese boy followed him, saying that they would miss their bus I tried to return it to the first boy… But he all but forced me to take it back. He never told me his name… I had forgotten all about it…. But when you gave me that peach just now… it came flooding back." Her eyes locked on him. "That boy was you, Lelouch, wasn't he?"

She remembered something like that? Lelouch wracked his brains. He had tried to get peaches for Nunnally when he could, but one time, the peach had slipped away…There _had_ been a girl who found it first…. No matter how much he wanted to give it to Nunnally, he felt guilty keeping it, as it seemed that the girl needed it more. He couldn't remember the girl's face, not truly. He had never expected to see the girl again, and the peach he had given her was gone forever, so her features had passed from his memory. But at Kallen's words, the image of the young Kallen that he had seen in her family photos began to superimpose itself over his fragmented recollection of the incident.

They fit like pieces of a puzzle.

"Kallen…" he whispered in recognition.

"It was you!" Kallen gasped. She shook her head. "I guess our meeting really was fate then, wasn't it?"

"Jung would call it synchronicity, a meaningful coincidence."

"Not much of a romantic, are you?" Kallen grumbled.

"A belief in fate is little better than embracing determinism, which I call fatalism. Why bother working to change anything if everything has already been set in stone? I couldn't live that way, and neither can you, Kallen. Your will is too strong to simply sit back and let life pass you by according to another's plan."

Kallen grinned, her rebellious spirit shining brightly in her blue eyes. "You've got that right."

"Let us agree to one other thing, Kallen."

"What's that?"

"Let us never mention what we discussed here where Milly might overhear it. We'd never hear the end of it."

xXx

Kallen and Lelouch continued to walk around Izu together, with her showing him places where she had enjoyed playing with her brother as a child. Soon however, it was time for them to start regrouping with the others.

They were making their way back to the station, when they heard a shrill, panicked cry.

"St-stay away from me, you Elevens!"

"That's Nina's voice!"

"Elevens…" Kallen muttered.

"Britannians, Japanese, it doesn't matter," Lelouch said, taking off in the direction of Nina's cry as fast as he could. "That's more than just her xenophobia crying out. She's in trouble, and needs our help!"

"Right," Kallen nodded, easily overtaking him. Lelouch didn't have her speed or strength, though at least he felt that his excursions into the Metaverse and training with Sayoko had improved his stamina somewhat, so he wouldn't be reduced to pathetically gasping for breath as Kallen left him in her dust.

They had almost reached where they thought Nina's cry had come from, when they heard another female voice call out.

"Unhand that poor girl this instant!"

Both of them knew that voice.

Euphemia.

Rounding the block, they saw Nina cornered against a wall in an alleyway, cornered by four Japanese men. White with fear, Nina was trembling uncontrollably, but her face was slowly turning blue, as one of the men was throttling her, preventing her from crying out again, with only pained gasps escaping from her mouth. Euphemia had come from another direction, and now stood across from the men that were threatening Nina.

"Oh, look, another Brit…" one of the men said, turning to face Euphemia. "She too should know better than to wander around on her own here, after what her kind did to us."

"She's really pretty though… for a filthy Brit," another leered at the princess.

"What's your name, doll?" the third said, advancing menacingly. Euphemia didn't reply. A switchblade appeared in his hands. "Are you lost? You fragile thing. Don't worry. We'll take good care of you and the other girl. We'll teach you two a lesson you won't soon forget."

The man lunged at Euphemia, grabbing one of her arms, but to his shock and that of his cohorts, Euphemia delivered a vicious and well-placed slap across his face with her free hand, immediately followed up by driving her knee into his crotch, causing the man to collapse to the ground in pain. Once, Euphemia would have never been capable of such violence, let alone to such effect, but then again, hadn't she pledged to leave the weak Euphy behind her upon awakening to her rebellious spirit? In any case, fighting through two Palaces had honed her instincts in close quarters combat when the need for it arose.

Bending down, Euphemia picked up the man's fallen switchblade.

"My name is Euphemia li Britannia. And I am not a fragile doll."

"No way!"

"The princess?"

"Never mind that!" The man holding Nina shouted, pointing at Euphemia with a free hand. "This bitch is crazy! Get her!"

The other two men charged at Euphemia.

So focused were they on the Third Princess that they never saw Kallen close the distance between them in the blink of an eye and crash into them from the side. Even Euphemia herself seemed surprised.

The leader was throughly freaked out by how quickly two harmless-looking young women had demolished his men. Letting go of Nina and roughly shoving her to a side, he tried to make a run for it, but Kallen and Euphemia were swift and merciless. The fight was all but over by the time Lelouch reached Nina, but then one of the men who had fallen nearby them began to rise unsteadily on his feet. Ordinarily, Lelouch would have never been able to overpower such a man on his own outside of the Metaverse, but this time he didn't need to. With the man so off balance, all Lelouch needed to do was to shove him back, causing the man to tumble back under his own weight and strike his head against the wall of the alleyway. The man slumped down, unconscious.

"Are you alright, Nina?" he asked, extending his hand down to her so that he could help her to his feet.

Nina didn't respond to him though, and just breathed raggedly, murmuring incoherently.

"She's still terrified," Euphemia said. "Let me try." She knelt down beside Nina. "Can you hear me?" She asked gently. "I know you're shaken by what just happened, but you're safe now. No one's going to hurt you any more."

Nina blinked, and looked up at Euphemia, finally seeming aware of her surroundings again.

"That's it," Euphemia smiled at Nina. "My name is Euphemia li Britannia. What's yours?"

"Nina…" she squeaked. "Nina Einstein, Your High-"

"Don't worry about titles right now," Euphemia said disarmingly. "You can call me Euphy if you want. That's what my friends call me."

"I… I couldn't…" Nina replied weakly.

"Well, it seems that you have some very good friends, Nina," Euphemia said, glancing up at Lelouch and Kallen. "They must have come running to help as well as soon as they heard your cry. I couldn't have done it without them. Four against one is a bit much, even for me."

Nina followed Euphemia's gaze, and it was as if she was seeing both of them in a whole new light.

"If you can stand, I'm sure your friends will help me bring you back to the rest of your group, and find you whatever medical attention you might need. Can you do that for me, Nina?"

"Y-yes, Your Highness," Nina stammered, taking the hand that Euphemia offered her, and rising to her feet. At once, her legs almost gave out on her, but Lelouch helped catch her, and put a hand over her shoulder to help stabilize her. Nina let out a small gasp at the unexpected contact, but after a moment, she seemed steadier on her feet.

"One more thing, Nina," Euphemia said. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention me taking down those thugs to anyone. It would clash with my public image. You understand, don't you? It can be our secret."

Nina bobbed her head in affirmation, but then her eyes turned to Kallen, questioning.

"Umm… You know what happened with the SSDF…. Adrenaline… I shouldn't have pushed myself like that." Kallen went into another fake coughing fit. "But you were in danger, so I'm glad I was able to help."

Nina still looked suspicious, but she didn't say anything. In fairness to Nina, it would be extremely difficult to see Kallen's skill and apparent ease in dispatching her opponents and then come out of it believing that Kallen was really as sickly as she said she was. After a point, "adrenaline" was no longer plausible as an excuse.

"Nina!" a voice called out, footsteps running in their direction. It was Milly. Sayoko followed her, and Lelouch saw an exasperated Jeremiah Gottwald approaching from another direction, clearly searching for Euphemia. "There you are! I was- My god… what happened to you, Nina?"

"I… wasn't paying enough attention to where I was going… I took a wrong turn… and…. I… those… Elevens…" Nina trembled.

"I'm so sorry Nina," Milly frowned. "This was not my idea of how our vacation would start."

xXx

"She has some bruising and other minor injuries, but otherwise she's fine, physically anyway," Milly told Lelouch. "Jeremiah saw to it that her attackers were arrested. Mentally… that's another story. Did Nina ever tell you why she's so afraid of Japanese people?"

"No."

"I thought so. She doesn't like to talk about it. The only reason that I know is that I've known her since we were kids. Once, when she was younger, she accidentally wandered into one of the ghettos. It wasn't long before she was accosted by a number of Japanese men and assaulted. Nina was never really the same afterward. The incident traumatized her. Nina began to crawl into her shell, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, and her self-confidence was shattered, outside of science. That was her refuge. She still has nightmares about it. But she'd actually been getting a lot better. Shy as she still is, you don't know what it means for her to have so many friends on the Student Council. And when she was able to accept Suzaku, in spite of him being Japanese, that was a real breakthrough for her. But now it's happened again."

Lelouch nodded gravely. Misplaced as Nina's xenophobia was when most Japanese people were simply trying to live as best they could under the Britannian regime, to her the idea that 'Elevens' wanted to and had hurt her was very real. In a way, he could even empathize with her now. His mother's assassination had left deep mental scars upon him, which he doubted that time would ever heal, and quickly the trauma he had experienced turned into a virulent hatred of Britannia, culminating in his pledge to destroy it. But even then, not all Britannians were bad, even among the nobility. His friends were living proof of that.

That understanding, and Nina's unspoken gratitude brought with it new power, but he still worried for her.

"Nina's been given some medicine so that she'll be able to sleep," Milly said. "But it would really be a downer if we let the day end this way."

"What do you propose, Madam President?"

"We might as well enjoy the hot springs while we're here. You know, soothe the body and relax the mind? I think we all could use that right now."

"As long as you don't have any hijinks planned for us while we're in there."

"You don't trust me?"

"In this case, Madam President? Not at all."

"It'll be fine! You're too uptight about these things, Lelouch!"

xXx

"It's been too long since I visited an onsen," Suzaku said with a contented sigh as he stretched out in the hot, mineral-rich water.

"Is that what they call it here?" Rivalz asked. "I thought they were just called hot springs."

"Hot springs or onsen, I've never been to one before," Rolo spoke up.

"Geez, it really is all work and no play for you," Rivalz frowned.

"The Black Knights remain at large," Rolo shrugged. "And by all indications, Medjed has vanished without a trace."

"Medjed's dead. I would bet on it," Suzaku replied grimly.

Rolo nodded. "That was my thought as well."

"Whoa, that got dark," Rivalz said uncomfortably. He turned. "You're awfully quiet, Lelouch. Are you still thinking about what happened to Nina?"

Lelouch nodded. It was half of the truth in any case.

"Yeah, that would be scary for anyone, but worrying about it isn't going to do any good now. I'm sure she'll feel better once we get to that island!" He looked around. "Aw, come on, I'm trying to lighten the mood!"

"You've been around Madam President too much," Lelouch replied.

"And you bring that up now?" Rivalz moaned. He shook his head. "You've got to tell me your secret, buddy!"

"What secret?"

"How do you get all of those girls like it's nothing? You're dating Kallen, Shirley still pines for you, that girl on the train… Need I go on?"

Lelouch didn't get a chance to answer him though, as they were interrupted by the sound of a door swinging open.

"Are you sure this is right time for us to be using the hot springs, Prez?" he heard Shirley's voice asking.

"You worry too much, Shirley," Milly's voice replied. "I've taken care of everything," she said devilishly.

Dread suddenly gripped Lelouch. He had expected Milly to pull some sort of stunt while they were in the onsen, but something as bold as this?

This was very, very bad.

"Just so long as there are no peeping Toms," Kallen's voice said, confirming his fears of the world of hurt they would soon be in if they didn't find a way out of the onsen without the girls noticing them.

"I wouldn't worry so much about peeping Toms," Leila said, as if she was casting a sidelong glance at someone.

"Hey!" Milly objected.

"It will be fine," a gentle voice said.

"Huh?" Suzaku started. "Prin-"

Lelouch promptly cupped his hand over Suzaku's mouth to prevent his friend from giving them away.

"Sayoko? I thought I just heard something."

That was Nunnally! She was here too?

"I can check the onsen first, if it pleases you, Mistress Nunnally."

"Sheesh! It's probably just the water or something! Let's just get in already," Milly urged.

By now, it seemed that Rivalz and Rolo had also realized the danger that they were in, their self-preservation instincts kicking in. Rivalz glanced anxiously at him, as if to ask, "What do we do, Lelouch?"

There was a large rock in the middle of the onsen. That was the only reason why the girls hadn't seen them yet. Maybe if they could move around the side as the girls came in, the sound would mask their own movements and…

"I'd take another look if I were you," a voice said behind them.

"Hmm? Arthur? Is that you?" Nunnally asked. Her hearing was still exceptional, honed by years of blindness as her brain compensated by bolstering her other senses.

Rolo turned and glanced at Arthur, a curious expression on his face. Rivalz seemed bewildered too as to what the Student Council's pet cat was doing there.

"Arthur, no, this is just a misunderstanding," Lelouch thought desperately. "Milly set us up!"

"The guys are right here," Arthur said.

"Traitor!" Lelouch seethed inwardly.

There was no escape. The girls had the high ground, had them badly outnumbered, and quickly surrounded them on all sides, scandalized and angry expressions on their faces. Of course, Milly was an exception, chortling at how her plan had gone off without a hitch.

"Like what you see, boys?" Milly grinned, posing before them with just a towel wrapped around her curvaceous body.

"I must have died and gone to heaven," Rivalz murmured, a trickle of blood running from his nose.

"Lulu!" Shirley gasped, in a similar state of undress. She threw her arms tightly around her chest to make sure her towel wouldn't fall off in front of them. Euphemia did the same.

"Lelouch!" Kallen snarled.

"No, wait, I can explain!"

Nunnally shook her head disapprovingly, while Sayoko looked faintly amused. Alice hadn't spoken previously, but she was there too, and she looked furious that anyone would dare peep at her friend in the onsen.

It really was hopeless.

"Nice knowing you," Arthur smirked. "Serves you right for trying to perv on them."

"The enemy is encircled. Commence an all-out attack," Leila said clearly and in an unusually dangerous tone.

"No, wait!" Milly said, her eyes widening.

The wrathful girls rushed forward.

Lelouch braced for impact.

"Stop!" Milly shouted.

The girls froze in place, now half submerged in the onsen, and turned to her.

"I didn't mean to take things so far..." Milly said, horror and contrition on her face. "I'm the one to blame here. I knew they were already in here. I thought it would just be something we could look back at fondly at and have a good laugh..." She shook her head. "I really messed this one up... Why don't we all head to bed, clear our heads, and hope tomorrow's a better day?"

The other girls exchanged glances and looked around in shame.

"I'm so sorry, Lulu," Shirley said. "I knew it wasn't like you to do something like that, but I got so caught up in everything..."

"You would not have put yourself in a situation you couldn't escape from," Leila nodded.

"I acted without thinking," Kallen said, clenching a fist.

"Well, at least no one's hurt..." Euphemia said, standing on the side. "Though that could have ended very differently."

 **A/N: Ended up doing quite a bit of research about the Izu area and its rail lines while writing this, but hopefully it paid off.**

 **The incident with the peach comes from the Code Geass light novel Red Tracks.**

 **Edit: Revised the ending of the chapter with the hot springs after feedback from reviewers, so that it's hopefully more satisfactory now. It was meant as a mythology gag, and an opportunity for character development on Milly's part as she came to realize that her pranks have unintended consequences. I was originally planning to put the apology in the next chapter, but it didn't work as I intended, so I moved it into this chapter.**

 **Next time, Kamine Island.**


	47. Summer Vacation, Part 2 - The Earl

They were on the beach of Kamine Island. The details of the trip seemed fuzzy to Lelouch, but it was a glorious day, the sun shining down on them as the blue waves rolled in.

Yet Suzaku… Suzaku was behaving oddly. First he was waving around a pair of lobsters around. Where Suzaku had gotten them, Lelouch wasn't sure. Euphy looked on in admiration, but Shirley was frantically trying to wrest the lobsters from Suzaku, much as she had tried to grab the bottle of champagne back when Kallen joined the Student Council. Somehow, she managed to get a hold of them, but Suzaku was unperturbed. Producing a large fish, seemingly from out of nowhere, Suzaku held it up proudly.

"I'll now proceed to pleasure myself with this fish," Suzaku grinned.

Lelouch awoke from the dream with a start. Of course it had been a dream. That explained all of its bizarre occurrences, and why he couldn't remember the journey to Kamine Island past their arrival at Izu; they hadn't actually left Izu yet. But the bit about Suzaku and the fish… that was just wrong. Why would his subconscious imagine that?

Lelouch glanced around. It appeared that he hadn't woken the others.

They were staying at a former ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn of the sort that usually accompanied an onsen, though like many businesses in Izu, it was now under Britannian management. It still had the tatami matted floors and sliding paper doors that were typical of ryokans, perhaps because the owner considered significant renovation too costly, and even the futons had been retained. Lelouch didn't mind the futons; they were of high-quality, thick and comfy enough that he doubted that most Britannian patrons would complain, even though they were accustomed to platform beds instead. However, to Lelouch's distaste, other changes clearly reflected the new owner's preferences. Any Japanese artwork in the rooms had been replaced with works by Britannian artists that clashed with the aesthetics of the rest of the inn, some of which were even reproductions of Clovis's paintings. Instead of decorated yukata, visitors were provided with plain bath robes to use as they headed to and left the onsen. Lelouch had little doubt that breakfast would similarly reflect Britannian tastes.

As much as he hated Britannia's overprivileged nobility and supremacist ideology, he had nothing against Britannian cuisine himself. That said, he couldn't help but feel a bit irked, as it would be a bastardization of the ryokan experience. Most of his friends wouldn't know what they were missing, but Kallen and Suzaku would know, and Leila might as well, given her interest in Japanese culture. Kallen of course couldn't bring that up in her assumed role as a Britannian noble, and Suzaku would be too polite to do so. Leila might comment on the differences, though she would undoubtedly present them as a matter of academic interest.

It was still too early to rise, so Lelouch closed his eyes, trying to fall back to sleep.

He had no doubt the day would be eventful.

xXx

"Hopefully there aren't any lingering hard feelings about that little incident last night," Milly chuckled nervously as they waited for breakfast that morning. The Student Council and its guests, sans Euphemia, had gathered around a long, low table, in the Japanese style. It wouldn't do for Euphemia to join them here. It had been problematic that she had shown up with them in the baths at all last night, but at least it had supposedly been time for female guests to use the onsen, according to Milly's misinformation anyway, so Euphemia's presence could be explained away as a coincidence, at least for now.

Still, Suzaku knew who Euphy was, and if Rolo didn't, he likely would soon. Such circumstantial evidence could in no way prove by itself that Euphemia was affiliated with the Black Knights, but it could still add up to make the young detective even more suspicious of them. Then there was the matter that Leila herself had slipped up and acted too familiar with him. How would she know that he wouldn't enter a situation that he wouldn't already have a plan to escape from? Of course, she wouldn't have been in the position to make that error in front of Rolo if Milly hadn't brought her to the onsen while it was supposed to be open only for males. And what if Rolo looked into Alice's background? Jeremiah had since falsified additional records, strengthening her cover, but now Lelouch worried if it had been a mistake to bring her at all.

Suffice to say, he was still less than pleased with Milly's antics, to put it mildly, and it seemed the others agreed, as several sets of eyes glared at her. The other guys were of course unhappy at being set up, but if anything, the girls seemed to bear more of a grudge. To the girls, Milly had put them in the doubly embarrassing position of first being seen half naked and then having to apologize themselves when they realized that the boys were innocent. Well, most of the boys. Though they had spared him a thrashing, some of the girls still considered Rivalz guilty of being a pervert, as he had been the only boy to openly express his enjoyment at seeing them only in their towels. Of course, some of Lelouch's ire was reserved for Arthur as well, for giving their position away to the girls, even after the cat's sincere apology. He still shared a bond with Arthur as fellow Black Knights, but it had been strained by the incident.

"Um… yeah…. I guess that was too much to hope for," Milly grimaced. "But I hear that the rest of you were able to enjoy the hot springs, right?"

In the end, Lelouch had offered the remainder of their time in the onsen to the girls, no longer interested in bathing there himself. The other boys had followed his lead and retired for the night soon afterward, realizing that it was the best way to make a graceful withdrawal while the girls' vengeance was stayed. Most of the girls had subsequently stayed to soak in the onsen, as they were already there, but Milly had left and gone to bed as well, sensing that her presence would only make things awkward.

There was some nodding and murmurs of assent.

"We should do it again one day!" Nunnally said cheerfully, and the tension in the air seemed to dissipate.

"I mean, once we were alone, it was a good way to end the day," Shirley agreed.

"The water was very soothing," Leila nodded.

"But no mixed bathing, giving the boys a peep show, or whatever else it was that you had in mind!" Kallen said adamantly.

"I'm not going to make that mistake again," Milly sighed. Her expression brightened. "Thankfully, as you can see, Nina has rejoined us, and says she feels up to continuing on the trip with us."

Nina nodded, her eyes glancing to Lelouch and Kallen as if for reassurance. He nodded back to her.

"Understandably, Nina's still a bit shaken about the whole thing", Milly continued, "so give her some space if she needs it, but as much as you can, try to make sure that she and the rest of you have fun and make some good memories together."

That was something they could all agree on.

A few minutes passed as they chatted with each other, sharing stories of what they had done during their day in Izu. As they did so, Lelouch noticed that Suzaku, Kallen, and Leila had impeccably followed the rules of Japanese etiquette for sitting at a low table at a casual gathering, legs crossed for males, and both legs to a side for females. Soon, Shirley noticed how Kallen and Leila were seated, and adjusted her own posture to follow their lead, while Milly and Alice remained cross-legged, though Milly was at least seated in the correct location for the highest-ranking member of the student council, in front of the tokonoma, an alcove containing artwork. Rivalz and Rolo were also seated correctly, but that did not seem to reflect any genuine knowledge of Japanese culture on their parts, as it was simply the posture they would normally assume while sitting on the floor.

At last, breakfast was ready, and was brought out to them. Nina shied back slightly, seeing that their server was a Japanese woman, though Lelouch had the feeling that Nina would have felt much more threatened if it was a Japanese man, given what had happened yesterday. He was glad though that she did not seem to treat Suzaku any differently after yesterday's incident. Perhaps she had long since desensitized herself to the fact that Suzaku was Japanese, or maybe it was because she saw Suzaku by now as an "Honorary Britannian", and thus worthy of her respect, rather than a feared and hated "Eleven".

As the meal was laid out before them, Lelouch saw that his prediction of a Britannian breakfast was correct... or so it seemed at a glance. For starters, the presentation was distinctly Japanese. Individually, the portions were smaller than a Britannian might be accustomed to, but they were aesthetically arranged in front of each of them in small bowls, and each of them received a variety of breakfast items, almost like a sampler, making up for the portion sizes. As for the items themselves, they were mostly Brittanian foods that had been introduced to Japan following the opening of ports to Brittanian trade and Japan's subsequent push to modernize itself, each receiving a Japanese twist.

There was toast, a breakfast staple throughout Britannia, but Lelouch noticed that the bread was shokupan, a popular Japanese variety. Butter and a selection of jams were provided. Then there were omurice. At first they appeared to be ordinary omelettes, but Lelouch knew they were filled with rice and chicken, and that when one cut into it, the omurice would unfurl, revealing its contents. Soy sauce and local wasabi was on the side, offering additional flavor to the omurice, and fresh greens were served as garnishes, unusual for breakfast in Britannia, but very common in Japan. Other items included strips of bacon, yogurt, and juice, coffee, and tea as beverages.

Finally, there were the pancakes. Unlike Britannian-style pancakes, which were wide and thin, Japanese-style pancakes were almost like biscuits in size and shape, but with flat, golden brown tops. The comparison to biscuits failed however when it came to the texture and taste of the pancakes. They would be light, very fluffy, and sweet, practically a soufflé, making them more of a dessert item. The pancakes came with imported maple syrup and mixed berries.

"This all looks great!" Rivalz enthused.

"You're very welcome, Rivalz," Milly replied. "Now dig in, everyone!"

The incident in the onsen would not soon be forgotten, but they couldn't help but appreciate such a breakfast, bought for them at Milly's expense. Some might cynically see it as a bribe to forget the incident in the hot springs, but even if some of them weren't quite willing to forgive Milly yet, it did much to restore a measure of goodwill toward her. Moreover, sitting there, enjoying a meal together served as a reminder of their camaraderie, both as members of the Student Council and, for many of them, as Black Knights and Irregulars as well, further easing tensions between them.

"Oh! My omelet!" Nina squeaked. "it... it fell apart."

"That's omurice, Nina," Suzaku explained. "It's supposed to do that."

"Omurice?" Nina was suddenly eyeing her omelet suspiciously. "Does that mean it's an El-"

"Just try it, Nina," Lelouch told her. "You see that none of us have keeled over yet." He cut into his own omurice, and took a bite of it. "You might actually like it."

Tentatively, Nina followed his example. For a moment, he thought she was going to spit it back out out of reflexive dislike for anything 'Eleven', but she swallowed, and continued eating without complaint.

"Yikes, this stuff is strong!" Rivalz yelped, his eyes watering after trying too much wasabi with his omurice. He glanced nervously over at Kallen's place at the table, where she was heaping what had to be enough of the stuff to rival Guren Jigoku's nuclear fury onto her food. "Um, Kallen, are you sure you'll be okay with that much? I mean, with your constitution..."

"It's just wasabi," Kallen shrugged. "I'll be fine."

Rivalz sighed. "You really like spicy foods, don't you? Well, don't say I didn't warn you."

"These are some delicious pancakes!" Rolo exclaimed, a smile forming on his face. Alice seemed to be similarly enjoying herself, but she was too busy eating to talk. "I don't think I ever had anything like these back in the homeland!"

From what Rolo had described of his past, the orphanage where he had grown up had been a forbidding, neglectful place, and he had since constantly been on the move for his work, thus lacking the time for anything but simple meals, so this sort of cooking was novel for him. But Lelouch wondered how much of Rolo's story was true. Their bond was symbolized by the Moon, and one of its primary meanings was illusion. He wore the mask of a friend around Rolo while viewing him as an enemy, all while talking about his past in half-truths, but who was to say that Rolo didn't view their bond in the very same way?

"I wish I could cook like this," Shirley frowned, "but I'm a hopeless klutz in the kitchen."

"I've wanted to get some practice myself," Leila said, "But my staff will barely let me. What are they afraid of?"

"Don't worry, you two!" Milly grinned. "There will be plenty of time to practice cooking once we're at the island! It'll be just like real camping!"

Lelouch felt a premonition of disaster. Then again, Milly was a pretty good cook herself, and she would be eager to avoid any further any further debacles on the trip, so meals couldn't go too badly under her supervision.

Could they?

"Well, I wasn't sure what to expect of the food in a traditional place like this," Rivalz said, helping himself to more familiar items, "but it's a good thing they carry the tried-and-true full breakfast fare."

Kallen silently glowered at him.

"I must say, I had been looking forward to miso soup, like Sayoko prepares," Nunnally said.

"Soup for breakfast?" Rivalz asked, nonplussed.

"Don't let her hear you," Lelouch said, sipping his coffee. "She might commandeer the kitchens to make it for you."

"And for you too, onii-sama," Nunnally smiled, affectionately using the Japanese honorific for a highly respected older brother, though it earned her a few odd looks.

"It does feel like we're missing something," Leila agreed. "Part of the charm of a ryokan is partaking of washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine. While it is very good and has some local flavor, what we are eating right now would be called yōshoku, meaning foreign food."

"You mean that this isn't what they normally serve?" Rivalz asked.

"To be fair, even before the war, most places had started offering both washoku and yōshoku to accomodate a more international clientele," Suzaku explained. "Even outside of ryokans, yōshoku was getting pretty popular."

"You'll barely find traditional recipes anymore though," Lelouch scowled. "They were suppressed, along with most other hallmarks of Japanese culture after this place became Area 11."

Once again, Nina looked distinctly uncomfortable by the way the conversation was going.

"I did try to book us the complete ryokan experience," Milly pouted, "but the best place was way off our route in a small town near Okina City, on the other side of Mt. Fuji."

"Are you talking about the Amagi Inn in Inaba?" Suzaku asked.

"That's the one! Have you stayed there before?" Milly asked.

"No, but I know of its reputation," Suzaku replied. "Inaba itself is a sleepy town, but the Amagi Inn is on its outskirts, and it's said to be a top-notch ryokan, with its own hot springs too. A cousin of mine once said she wanted to go there for her honeymoon."

Lelouch almost choked on his coffee.

"Is she older than you, Suzaku?" Rivalz asked.

"Actually, she's about three years younger than me," Suzaku replied. "She's always been... precocious. She said that when she was seven, I think, and that she wanted her honeymoon to last for a month."

"A month?" Shirley asked in disbelief.

"That's what she said. And then she told me, 'As long as my husband isn't you, I'm sure I wouldn't want him to leave our bedroom for at least half as long!'"

Lelouch felt himself go pale, while Shirley's face turned beet red.

"She sounds like a bit of a bully, if you ask me," Rolo said.

"M-more importantly, a seven-year girl said that?!" Shirley spluttered.

"As I said, she was precocious," Suzaku replied with a wry smile. "I didn't get the joke myself until I was 14."

"She sounds like my kind of girl!" Milly grinned.

Lelouch imagined a nightmarish scenario in which Milly and Kaguya were the best of friends.

"Lelouch, are you alright?" Kallen asked.

"I'm fine," he said. But if he heard any more about what Kaguya might have in mind for him, he was going to lose his appetite.

xXx

Leaving the ryokan and Izu behind them, they headed over to Ito, where the Izukyu Line began. It followed a southwesterly route, parallel to the ocean, taking them down along the Jogasaki Coast, a shoreline characterized by lava flows from the nearby Mt. Omuru which had reached the sea and formed dark, craggy cliffs with varied formations and caves cut into them by the action of the waves. Many of the cliffs were crowned by verdant forests, growing in the rich volcanic soil.

"It's all so pretty!" Shirley smiled, looking out the window to admire the scenery.

She wasn't the only one enjoying the sights. Shi and Tsu had boarded the train as well, and the younger warden clearly hadn't seen anything like the cliffs before.

"Um, Lelouch, I don't mean to be rude," Suzaku whispered, "But weren't those same two girls on our train down to Izu?"

"Yes," he replied. There was no point in lying about the obvious.

"Doesn't it seem a bit weird that they seem to be following the same route as us? Do you know them?"

Lelouch shrugged.

"And what about -"

Lelouch glared at him, and Suzaku immediately fell silent, grasping his meaning. Suzaku had meant to inquire about Princess Euphemia, who had shown up at both Tanabata and Izu, but such questions were dangerous in Rolo's company. "I see," Suzaku said quietly. "She's here to see you and Nunnally, right?"

"You could say that," Lelouch nodded.

"Then I'll leave it at that."

By this point, Shirley, naturally friendly as ever, was attempting to strike up a conversation with the green-haired girls nearby her.

"I saw you on the train before. You're sisters, right? Are you both heading down to Shimoda? I hear there's some great beaches there!"

Tsu regarded Shirley coolly, pulling down her sunglasses slightly to gaze at her over their rims. Shirley's eyes widened slightly and she made a small gasp as she saw Tsu's golden eyes, but she managed to stand her ground without recoiling or making a scene. Though Tsu kept it well-hidden here, had Shirley sensed her otherworldly nature? At the very least, there was no doubt in Lelouch's mind that in seeing Tsu's eyes, Shirley had been reminded of the encounter with her own Shadow.

After a moment, Tsu spoke. "You're an interesting one, Shirley Fenette."

"Huh? H-how do you know my name?" Shirley stammered.

"I heard your friends calling you Shirley earlier," Tsu smirked. "And it says your name on your luggage."

That might all be true, but Lelouch knew that Tsu was still lying. She had probably known who Shirley was even before her Palace fully manifested, or perhaps even earlier than Lelouch dared to imagine.

"Do you believe in fortune-telling?" Tsu asked. As if out of nowhere, a Tarot deck was in her hands.

Lelouch felt a chill pass through him. Not only was the question an eerie reflection of one he had been asked before, but unlike Leila, who undoubtedly relied on cold reading, Tsu was, at her very essence, a supernatural being. Did that lend extra weight to whatever her reading might be? No, that was to admit that fate-

"Let's take a look at your future, shall we, Shirley Fenette?"

"Wait, what?" Shirley looked mortified. "You can't mean... not in front of everyone! Thats-"

Tsu ignored her. She shuffled her deck and drew its top card, placing it down between them in the upright position. It was one of the Minor Arcana. "The Six of Swords," Tsu announced. "You have just endured a trial, but the future before you is hopeful." She drew the next card, which was also in the upright position. "The Chariot. Victory is within your grasp, even as you wrestle with opposing forces, if you have but the will to act." She paused. "And let's look one more card into your future..."

Shirley was rapt with attention now.

Tsu placed down the last card.

"Temperance, in the upright position," Tsu said. "A merging of opposites, into a new and harmonious whole."

Shirley sat silently for several moments, processing Tsu's predictions of her future. Finally, she said, "Thank you."

Tsu simply returned a mysterious smile.

xXx

They continued down the Izukyu Line, past Kawazu, which Kallen had told him was home to the best cherry blossom festivals on the Izu Peninsula, finally reaching the station at the line's southern terminus, located in the port city of Shimoda. It was a historic port, the first where Japan had allowed foreign ships to dock, when Britannian Commodore Matthew Perry arrived with his heavily-armed fleet of Black Ships. Perry was a hero to Britannia, and a large statue had been erected in his honor following the invasion, supplanting the older bust that that the Japanese themselves had placed in memory of that day. But Lelouch knew from his time at the Kururugi Shrine that opinions of Perry were far more mixed in Japan. At one point, his arrival had been the impetus to begin a period of modernization, militarization, and economic growth that transformed Japan in a global power, but it had also been a humiliation, in which Perry forced Japan to sign the treaty opening the port at Shimoda under the threat of his ships' guns.

Once they boarded the ferry, it would take about three and a half hours for them to arrive at Shikine Island. As much as the Student Council would have liked to spend some time exploring the city before then, the ferry only departed from Shimoda once a day, at 9:30 in the morning. However, Milly promised that they would have the chance to do when they returned from Kamine Island. One of the main attractions would Ryosenji Temple, which had been preserved as the site where the historic treaty had been signed. Personally, Lelouch had little interest in the site. Just as Tokyo Tower had been converted into the Britannian Victory Memorial Center, Ryosenji Temple would likewise serve a propaganda role. Doubtlessly, it would say that the treaty marked the first steps by Britannia in "enlightening a primitive people, who knew nothing of how to build a prosperous and modern nation until opened to the glory of Britannia and its many technological and social achievements," or some such drivel.

Just as on the train rides before, Shi and Tsu boarded the ferry with them, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the other members of the Student Council.

"We need to talk," Lelouch said, finally catching Tsu and her sister away from the others.

"About what?" Tsu asked lazily, looking over the railing of the ferry as Shimoda receded in the distance.

"You perfectly know why," Lelouch said impatiently.

"Are you embarrassed by the others seeing me? Or perhaps you're feeling a bit possessive of that girl earlier, and didn't want me sinking my claws into her, so to speak?" Tsu laughed. "For one who used to have a Palace of her own, she really is a straightforward girl. I can read her like a book."

"What are you thinking, bringing that up here?" Lelouch hissed.

"Don't make a big fuss about it. None of your friends can hear us at this distance, especially not over the engine and waves. If you must know, I was curious about her. But don't worry. There aren't any big surprises about her that you don't know already. She's not another Trickster, unlike your little sister. Though she does have a remarkably high base level of ability as a Persona user. I wouldn't be concerned about whether she'll be able to catch up to the rest of you. Give her a few battles, and she'll be doing just fine."

"Why read Shirley's fortune?"

"I thought she needed a bit of encouragement." Tsu replied.

"I like her!" Shi smiled. "She's nice!"

"And what are you going to do when it's time for us to make the final leg of the trip to Kamine Island? It's not open to the public, and you're not members of the Student Council, nor our guests, so-"

"As I said, you think too much?" Tsu replied. "Really, of all people, you think we would have difficulty stowing away on a ship?"

Lelouch didn't want to admit it, but she had a point. Shi and Tsu could simply enter the Metaverse and return to the real world when they reached Kamine Island, or perhaps they could temporarily revert to being as they had first appeared in the real world, invisible and inaudible to anyone but those whom they had a contract with.

"Lelouch!"

Kallen had seen him talking with Tsu, and was now coming over to them.

"Kallen?" he asked.

"Okay, who is she, Lelouch?" Kallen asked crossly, putting her hands on her hips. "You did a good job playing dumb on the trains, but you two clearly know each other."

"She's a fiery one," Tsu smirked.

"Excuse me?"

"My name is Tsu, and this is my little sister, Shi," the older warden replied, now addressing Kallen directly.

"Let me rephrase that. Who are you to Lelouch?"

"So direct. To put it simply, I am his warden, as is my sister, though by now I think it's safe to say that we're also accomplices. Does that answer your question, Kallen Kozuki?"

"What's that- Wait! How do you know my real name?" At once, Kallen's hand reached for her pink pouch, the same one which Lelouch knew concealed a knife. "Both of you better have a good explanation for this!"

"You honestly think you can threaten me with something as weak as that?" Tsu asked with amusement. "Besides, is it really a good idea to be taking that out right now?" She glanced down. Shi was holding her leg, trembling as she gazed at Kallen. "And you've frightened my little sister," Tsu added, her own voice becoming menacing.

Kallen glared at her.

"Put it down, Kallen," Lelouch said gently, trying to defuse the situation. Reluctantly, she did so.

"So who is she?" Kallen pressed.

"You know how I sometimes seem to zone out for a moment before we enter a Palace?"

"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?"

"I've said that it helps me organize my Personas. That's true, but there's more to it. I didn't tell you the whole story before, Kallen, because you and the others couldn't see what I did, and so it wouldn't make sense to you even if I tried to explain it."

"Try anyways. This is something to do with the power that my brother had, and that you and Nunnally now have, isn't it? If it's not..."

"It is. There are doors, that only Nunnally, myself, and anyone with a power like ours can see. Maybe it has to do with Cognition, maybe they actively hide themselves from those don't have the power. I don't really know myself, to be honest. But these doors lead to a place called the Velvet Room. It's not a physical place, not quite."

"It exists between dream and reality, mind and matter," Tsu supplied.

"Thank you. As I was saying, whenever I seem to zone out in the Metaverse, its because my mind is in the Velvet Room." He gestured at Shi and Tsu. "These two are my helpers in there, and they assist Nunnally as well. They help me create new Personas, strengthen existing ones, and recall old ones."

"I don't think I've heard you describe our relationship quite in that way before," Tsu said with a smile, to Kallen's consternation.

"Don't let her get to you, Kallen. Tsu loves to tease, and once she knows what buttons to push, she'll tease you mercilessly as well. But it's true. You two have been an enormous help. I could have never gotten this far without your help Kallen, and for that I will always be grateful-"

"But my sister and I are the accomplices at the very essence of the man you call Zero," Tsu smirked, causing Lelouch to glare at her.

"But their services were just as valuable in their own way," he corrected.

"Did he tell you all of that?" Kallen asked warily. "You said you were his wardens. What does that mean? And if you're from that world..." Her gaze locked on the sisters' golden eyes, noticing their supernatural glow. "Are you Shadows?!"

"To compare us to mere Shadows is like comparing humans to ants, to put it in a way that you might understand. But yes, we are his wardens. You see-"

"The form that the Velvet Room takes is a prison," Lelouch said, cutting Tsu off before she could make it weirder than it had to be.

"Mister Lelouch and Miss Nunnally are our Inmates!" Shi said, sounding entirely too cheerful. Seeing Kallen's expression change to bewilderment at the incongruity, Shi quickly corrected herself. "And my friends," she said softly.

"I'd appreciate you not interrupting me next time, Inmate," Tsu said sharply. She turned back to Kallen. "But your boyfriend here is our prisoner in the Velvet Room, as is his little sister, and they have both been sentenced to rehabilitation." She made a sidelong glance at Lelouch. "I must say that he was in far more desperate need of rehabilitation from the start, but they've both made remarkable progress."

"Prisoner? Rehabilitation? Sentenced? Who sentenced him?" Kallen huffed.

"He is a prisoner of fate." Tsu chuckled. "But isn't that true of all humans? Whether by their own volition, limited perceptions, or unquenchable desires, humans are trapped in prisons of their own making. Occasionally, a human will escape from their prison, but all they've done is put themselves in a larger prison."

Suddenly, several things clicked into place for Lelouch. Unquenchable desires... put themselves in a larger prison... Didn't that sound exactly like Palace rulers and their Palaces? He had never seen a Palace ruler outside of its Palace, and seemingly they had no desire to leave, exulting in having a world of their own to rule, warped to satisfy their own perverse desires. Palaces really were worlds of their own, massive distortions disconnected from reality, and even cut off from the rest of the Metaverse, accessible only by the proper set of keywords that would unlock the enormous, ornate prisons for infiltration. But without the Metaverse Navigator, the Palace's ruler remained imprisoned within. More than any other Palace ruler, Shirley had recognized, even on a subconscious level, the true nature of her Palace, seeing it not as her own personal paradise, but as her prison and watery grave, casting her own room as a brig.

He could take that idea further. They knew that Palaces arose from Distortions in Mementos that grew too large to be contained within it. But if Palaces were personal prisons for those with the most distorted hearts, wouldn't the smaller Distortions be a form of solitary confinement, with prisoners sentenced to isolation before even more drastic measures were called for? But the fact remained that the Distortions and the prisoners within them were housed in Mementos... which meant that somehow, despite appearing as a run-down subway, Mementos itself served as a prison. No, it did not simply serve as a prison. He recalled an earlier conversation with Tsu. Mementos wasn't the realm of the gods that she had spoken of. It had been constructed over it as a prison. It seemed so obvious now.

Mementos was the Palace of the Public. Mementos was the Prison of the Public. The two were one and the same.

There was another thing. Every Palace had a Treasure. Therefore, the general public must also have its own Treasure. If the Black Knights could infiltrate to the lowest levels of Mementos and steal the Treasure that resided there, then wouldn't they be able to force a change of heart on the public as a whole? Everyone would realize their complicity in Britannia's tyranny, whether by action or inaction, and the Empire as it was would collapse overnight, a bloodless revolution. Mementos itself would disintegrate without its Treasure, like the other Palaces before it. A kinder and gentler world would be at hand.

But unfortunately, simply stealing the Treasure of the Public was not possible at the moment. Much of the Public's Palace remained unexplored, and the Black Knights would have to work their way further into the public's collective consciousness to gain passage past the barriers deep in Mementos. That meant stealing more hearts, and raising their profile with ever more ambitious Metaverse heists. Moreover, a Treasure with so much Cognition behind it would undoubtedly be extremely heavily protected. They had already encountered one of its guardians, The Reaper, and they were a long way from being able to beat it in a straight fight, not that he would ever be foolish enough to engage it without a plan to distract it, weaken it, or somehow subvert its strengths first. But at least Lelouch now knew what his endgame was.

Igor had to have known this, but as always the Master of the Velvet Room had said nothing. But if Mementos and the other Palaces were prisons, Lelouch doubted that the fact that the Velvet Room was a prison was a coincidence either. Any prisoner who had the freedom to move between the other prisons and rally fellow rebellious spirits around them would be especially dangerous to whoever was running the greater prison, especially if they were to conspire to destroy Mementos and free all of the other prisoners within. So such prisoners would be watched most carefully of all. Perhaps their captor would even seek to deceive them, presenting himself as a mentor and dangling "rehabilitation" as a chance to escape the prison, all to ensure that these most dangerous of prisoners would dance to his strings.

All of this lead him to the conclusion that Igor either was the being who had first constructed Mementos, a would-be god reigning over the prison that humanity unwittingly lived in and keeping personal watch over the prisoners who were the greatest threats to his power, or a subordinate thereof, serving an as of yet unseen master as a trickster guardian protecting Mementos' Treasure where The Reaper's brute force was insufficient. Given how quick Igor was to anger when his authority was challenged in any way, Lelouch quickly ruled out the second option in turn. Lelouch couldn't see Igor accepting any authority but his own.

In this context, Igor's obsession with preventing Ragnarok made more sense as well. If mythology and anything Igor said could be trusted, Ragnarok was the Twilight of the Gods. Further, if Lelouch was correct in his assumption that Igor saw himself as a god, then Ragnarok would pose an existential threat to him, one that he could not act openly against, something that Igor would seek to stop at any cost, even if it meant drawing together several dangerous prisoners around him. Those who saw all the way through his ruse could be eliminated, leaving the spares behind to stop Ragnarok, while others would be culled by Shadows in the Palaces. Of course, the mythological Ragnarok had not only killed the gods, but was nearly the end of the world in general, so Lelouch had no reason to let his father's plans of bringing it about succeed either.

"Um... Lelouch... is something wrong?" He became aware of the fact that Kallen was waving her hand in front of his face.

"No, Kallen. I'm fine." He affected a chuckle. "Tsu gets very philosophical at times."

He couldn't tell Kallen what he had realized out loud. If Igor knew the true depth of his understanding, the Master of the Velvet Room would doubtlessly try to have him and Nunnally executed or otherwise disposed of. His only choice was to continue playing the role of the Fool.

xXx

Shikine Island had a rocky, irregular coastline and hilly terrain, but plenty of vegetation still grew on it. Continuously inhabited for hundreds of years, it was home to a small town, though no more than a few hundred Japanese lived there, and now a small Britannian airbase as well, from which regular patrols over the surrounding islands could be launched. The airbases's presence demanded improved infrastructure and facilities on the island, but any improvements to conditions and the local economy that the base might have brought were certainly outweighed by more stringent security regulations and constant reminders of Britannia's oppressive power. Security was even tighter than ever, for it appeared that a VIP of some sort was coming to the island. However, as personal guests of Earl Asplund and his fiancé, most of the checks would be waived for them. Lelouch was grateful for this. A stringent security check was the last thing he could afford, lest the long-lost vi Britannia siblings were rediscovered.

They didn't have to go far to find Earl Asplund either, as he was waiting for them at Shikine Island's port. Milly had described his as eccentric, but Lelouch found he was still quite unprepared for meeting the Earl in person.

"Well hello there!" The Earl's voice managed to sound somewhat gravelly yet nasally at the same time, but was filled with an exuberant energy, even as he drew his words out in a drawl. "You're here! Hip hip hooray!"

"Lelouch, is this really the guy Milly is engaged to?" Rivalz asked nervously.

Earl Asplund was wearing a lab coat, with the top of a green turtleneck visible underneath and black pants. He seemed just shy of thirty, was about six feet in height, slightly taller than Milly, and was far more well-groomed than one's stereotypical image of a mad scientist. His hair, silvery but with a hint of lavender, was neatly combed, and he was clean-shaven. He did however wear a very large pair of glasses over his grayish-blue eyes, and his eccentricity extended to exaggerated mannerisms, though he did not seem outwardly malicious in any way.

Accompanying the Earl was a woman who appeared to be several years younger than him, just in her mid-twenties. She had short, dark indigo hair that fell in a pair of bangs at the sides of her face, gentle features that showed exasperation, and large blue eyes. She was wearing an unconventional orange military uniform, with a matching skirt, tall black boots that cut off below her knees, and a green tie and an armband that identified her as a member of the Camelot Special Engineering Corps.

"Earl Asplund, you're going to overwhelm them!" she cried.

"Oh, really now, Cecile?" he asked, turning to his assistant, seeming genuinely curious. "I thought that I put on a warm welcome for them."

"You did, but there's such a thing as overdoing it!"

Earl Asplund shrugged. "Something to file away for next time. As I always say, I was born with an abandoned heart."

"What's that mean?" Rivalz asked, growing ever more anxious.

Earl Asplund overheard him. "It means I'm a sociopath," he said, cheerfully and lazily as ever.

"He really isn't a bad person, though!" Cecile quickly cut in. 'He says he was born with an abandoned heart, but he still has one, no matter how stubbornly he insists he doesn't!"

"Cecile, you'll embarrass me in front of my fiancée ," the Earl said, making a show of modesty, though Lelouch doubted that the nobleman felt bothered at all.

Earl Asplund turned to Milly. "You brought more friends than I expected," he said in an easygoing manner.

"They're all precious to me, Earl Asplund," Milly said in a studied, respectful tone.

"Well, congratulations!" The Earl broke out into a grin. "The more the merrier, that's what they say. All aboard, boys and girls! Next stop, a desert island!"

"You really need to stop trying so hard," Cecile sighed.

 **A/N:**

 **Obviously, I had a much slower pace for writing this chapter than the past several. This was a confluence of several factors. The Fourth of July holiday, a spell of summer heat and humidity sapping my energy, some errands that I had to attend to in real life, and the amount of time I spent researching ryokans, western-inspired Japanese cuisine, and the route that the Student Council took through Izu. It also ended up being a lengthier chapter, but I'm pleased with how things unfolded, and hope you will be as well.**

 **Also, thanks to the reader who contributed the skit that became the basis of the scene where they talk about the Amagi Inn and Kaguya.**

 **Chapter 48 definitely will be Kamine Island though, and I will try to keep the events on it self-contained to a chapter if I can, and then we'll bring the summer vacation mini-arc to a close and move onto the bulk of the 5th Palace Arc.**


	48. Summer Vacation, Part 3 - Island

The ride to Kamine Island from Shikine Island was much shorter than the ferry they had just taken from Shimoda. Because its exact location was classified, Earl Asplund couldn't tell them how far it was from Shikine Island or in what direction, but through careful observation and knowledge of the typical speed of a Britannian vessel, Lelouch knew that it couldn't be more than a few miles away, and he felt he could make a good guess of its coordinates, which he committed to memory.

There was no way that the locals of Shikine and the surrounding islands couldn't know of the existence of Kamine Island, so Britannia kept an especially tight grip upon them to control the flow of information about whatever secrets the island might hold. But as Kamine Island came into view, Lelouch saw that it was every bit as verdant, if not moreso than its sister islands, lush green covering the broad, gently sloping sides of its mountains. Why then had it remained uninhabited in the modern era, even before the Britannian invasion of Japan?

"The locals call it the 'Island of the Gods'," Earl Asplund explained. "The Gods left the ruins there, and it's not for mortals like us to trespass upon them." He chuckled wryly to himself. "What a quaint superstition, standing as ever in the way of scientific progress. Of course, it's not just the locals. The last Japanese administration also restricted access to the island, and began the process of erasing it from charts. How curious."

Beside him, Lelouch saw Suzaku stiffen. The information was disquieting for him as well. The 'Island of the Gods'? Could it be connected to the 'Realm of the Gods' that Tsu had spoken of? No, that wasn't it's proper name. She had called it "Akasha", or "C's World". All the same, Lelouch knew from her that the Metaverse overlaid both reality and C's World, and that at some time, lost to history, humans had tried to enter C's World. Was Earl Asplund here to explore that connection? He had to be. It was too much of a coincidence to be anything else. But if Genbu Kururugi had restricted access to the island, he must have known, or at least suspected what the Island of the Gods hid as well. Did that mean that Genbu had been investigating Cognitive Psience as well? Kirihara didn't seem to know the mechanisms behind mental shutdowns, nor of the existence of the Metaverse, but perhaps he could still provide insights into what Genbu had been doing here.

xXx

"Congratulations, we're here!" Earl Asplund said in his usual exaggerated manner as the Student Council and its guests prepared to disembark. "A few ground rules though before you run off and start having fun," he said, suddenly serious. "You can explore the beach and the surrounding areas. But don't get too close to the interior of the island. There are some ruins there, and they're not quite safe."

"You mean you don't want them disturbing anything," Cecile interrupted.

"That too," Earl Asplund admitted. "You'll know you've gone too far if you encounter the security perimeter around them. The guards know that you're here with me, so that should prevent most misunderstandings, but if they give you any sort of instruction, you should follow it at once. Some seem to be the shoot first, ask questions later type, if you ask me, and I would hate it if anything were to happen to my fiancée or her friends. They'll be especially on edge, what with Second Prince Schneizel and Third Princess Euphemia coming here."

Schneizel was coming here?!

"L-Lloyd!" Cecile stammered. "Their arrival is supposed to be classified! You can't just-"

"You're too uptight, Cecile. They're my fiancée's friends from school, not terrorists. Next you'll say I shouldn't have brought them here at all."

"We're already pushing it."

"P-Princess Euphemia is coming here?" Nina stammered.

Earl Asplund gave her a curious look.

"Um, I-" Nina started, looking like a deer in the headlights. Euphemia had asked Nina not to tell others about her own role in the incident at Izu, and now Nina was struggling to find an explanation for her reaction to the Third Princess' name that wouldn't betray that promise.

"Nina's been a fan of Princess Euphemia for some time," Lelouch said, effortlessly lying as he came to her aid. Besides, it wasn't even a lie. "Isn't that right, Milly?"

"Huh? Oh... that's right!" she said, putting on an easy smile.

Looking relieved, Nina nodded wordlessly.

"You know, Earl Asplund," Lelouch continued while he had the initiative. "Nina here wants to be a scientist, and she's been doing some theoretical work on her own time. I'm not a scientist myself, but the simulations she's done look like they're really something."

"Lelouch, what are you-" Nina began nervously.

"If you have some time, perhaps you could take a look at them. It may be presumptuous, but I think even Princess Euphemia might be interested. The Sub-Viceroy is known for being a champion of the common people, and Nina's work might be able to help a lot of them."

"Hmmm... You don't say?" Earl Asplund said, stroking his chin. "I must say, you've piqued my interest." He turned back to Nina. "Have you brought your simulations with you?"

She nodded, suddenly seeming determined. "Yes... they're on my laptop, Earl Asplund."

"I'll come by this evening then. I can't promise anything where royalty is concerned, but if it's promising enough, I'll pass it along to her."

"Thank you, Earl Asplund!" Nina said, bowing.

"There's no need to be so formal, Nina," the Earl chuckled good-naturedly.

Lelouch knew it was a gamble on his part. Nina's work could strengthen Britannia's position economically as an abundant energy source, and he supposed it could be used to supplement Sakuradite for large warships . But if there were only a few months until Ragnarok, that wouldn't be enough time for him to get past the prototyping stage, even under the most ambitious of schedules. After all, work would need to be done to experimentally confirm Nina's findings before the Earl could even start working on applications for them. On the other hand, he felt Nina's gratitude even now, through the bond that represented the Hermit. If Earl Asplund and Princess Euphemia liked her work, Nina even could get grants, better equipment, and even the Sakuradite samples that she needed. Lelouch knew that would further strengthen the Hermit in turn, giving him immediate benefits in the Metaverse.

xXx

The Student Council's first order of business was to establish a campsite, as Kamine Island had no permanent facilities of its own. They selected a site near the back of the beach, sheltered in a notch in the white cliffs flecked with gray behind them, and surrounded by patches of vegetation for shade. They were fortunate that Earl Asplund had chosen to drop them off there. While much of Kamine Island's coastline was rocky and rugged, the beach before them was wide, and made of sand as white as the surrounding cliffs.

"This island is so beautiful!" Nunnally smiled. "I'm so glad that I can see it with you!"

It was hot in the summer sun, 82 degrees Fahrenheit, or 28 degrees in the Celsius scale. Some hardliners in Britannia stubbornly clung to traditional units of measurement, unwilling to adopt the system that had been popularized by Napoleon's conquests, but the utility of the _Systeme Internationale_ was recognized by more pragmatic elements within Britannia, and so their thermometer displayed both. Thankfully, the cool breeze coming in from the sea served to blunt the effects of Japan's summer humidity, keeping it from feeling oppressive.

The three large tents that would house them for the duration of their stay went up quickly, in large part thanks to Suzaku's experience in basic training and his own natural talents. Shirley, Kallen, Milly, Nina, and Leila would be in one tent. Nunnally, Alice, and Sayoko occupied the second. Lelouch would share the last tent with the other boys. There was no sign of Shi and Tsu yet, but if they did show up, which he suspected they eventually would, he hoped they would have the good sense to use Nunnally's tent. It had the most room, and more importantly, everyone there was an Irregular or allied with them and the Black Knights, and could be trusted not to talk. He wasn't crazy about whatever ideas Tsu might put in Nunnally's head, but Nunnally had been dealing with her before he ever had an inkling of it, so he trusted that Nunnally could handle Tsu's antics. Besides, they couldn't be any worse than Sayoko's.

They set up a few folding tables with beach chairs and umbrellas in front of the tents, and then Milly instructed them to go further down the beach, where it was rockier, and gather stones to construct a fire ring.

"After all, we'll need a fire to cook our food," Milly said.

"Prez, can't we just use a portable stove or something?" Rivalz asked.

"Nope! We're camping on desert island, so we're going to do things the old-fashioned way! Besides, what sort of camping trip would it be without a campfire."

"I suppose you're right," Rivalz said, obviously still not over her engagement to Earl Asplund, unaware that she was using it as an excuse to keep tabs on one of Britannia's leading researchers for the Black Knights. His expression brightened for a moment. "Then we can all gather around it, and tell ghost stories. Is that something you'd like, Madam President?"

Milly laughed. "I'd love that, Rivalz. Of course, after you get those stones, you have to gather firewood, search for food and water..."

"There's more?!"

"Of course there is. But don't worry. I think Suzaku will be able to take care dinner, but we'll pitch in too. Besides," she added suggestively, "There may be something special for you boys when you get back. No hot spring hijinks though," she said hurriedly, "I promise."

They went about their assigned tasks. The stones were gathered quickly enough and then they began exploring the surrounding forest, gathering fallen branches among the undergrowth. They also came across a beautiful waterfall with a natural pool of crystal-clear water at its base, which would be perfect for gathering fresh water or bathing. Lelouch made a mental note to stay far way from the waterfall at any time that the girls might be using it, but also took the opportunity to fill up several canteens of water. Of course, the water would have to be filtered and boiled later. Just because it looked clear didn't mean that it didn't contain organisms that might cause infection. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even necessary, as the Earl had provided them with a large canister of fresh water, but Milly was insistent that everyone use the opportunity to practice survival skills, and that meant no shortcuts.

Laden with water, Lelouch decided it was time to return to camp. When he arrived, he saw what the "something special" Milly had referred to was.

The girls had changed into their swimsuits.

Milly wore a plain magenta bikini with sunglasses pushed up on her head, but she didn't need anything else to stand out, as she was both the tallest of the girls and the one with the biggest "measurement", something Lelouch would have to be blind to not notice. Leila dressed similarly, except her bikini was light pink, and she had a broad white sunhat, decorated with a flower. Kallen's swimsuit was a black bandeau bikini under a light orange sleeveless top, which was fastened around her neck and gathered below at a single button near her midriff, parting on either side of her belly button. It had a somewhat tomboyish look, and covered more skin than Milly's did, which suited Kallen just fine.

As for Shirley, she had a two-piece light turquoise set, which substituted a traditional bikini bottom for a short skirted one. Rather than resting behind her neck, the straps on her top connected to a small choker that she wore around it, creating a window that quite effectively drew attention to her breasts without seeming blatant about it. Lelouch wondered if on some level, Shirley was trying to compensate for having a slightly smaller chest than Kallen, Milly, or Leila. She had previously expressed insecurities about how she looked next to the Countess, after all, and given his relationship with Kallen, she might assume that he preferred... He wanted to shake his head, just thinking about it. As if he would ever be so shallow. Shirley was beautiful as she was. But maybe he was just overthinking things.

As for the remaining girls, Nina had a conservative yellow one-piece and a small tan hat. He doubted that Nina would ever choose to wear a bikini in the presence of the other student council members, not only from her own shyness, but from the fact that it would make her feel that much more self-conscious at her own lack of endowment when compared to the other girls' measurements, which actually was a noticeable difference in her case. Alice had borrowed a school swimsuit for the trip, while his sister had a two-piece swimsuit with criss-crossing patterns, and had braided wildflowers into her hair, which was now tied back into a ponytail. Sayoko stood beside her, wearing a green one-piece that resembled a tight-fitting dress, held in place by white straps, her usual maid's headdress replaced by a yellow headband.

"It looks like our Vice President is a hot-blooded male after all," Milly grinned, noticing that his gaze had lingered upon them slightly longer than he had intended.

"Why do you have to put it like that?" Kallen grimaced. "It's not like we're wearing our swimsuits for them. Unintentional as it may have been, they saw enough the other day at the onsen. Besides, what else are we supposed to wear at the beach?"

"Onsen?" Nina asked anxiously.

"It's another name for a hot spring," Leila replied.

"Still... um... what do you think, Lulu?" Shirley asked. "About our swimsuits, I mean?"

Shirley was asking him that? He had to find a way to respond without offending any of the girls. Normally, he'd be able to come up with a strategy on the spot, but he felt his mind freezing up. Shirley, Kallen, Milly, Leila... they all looked great, but he couldn't just blurt that out, could he? What if Kallen or one of the other girls took it the wrong way. He could-

"Say something, Lulu."

"They suit you," he managed, though it sounded lame even to him.

Shirley frowned, and Kallen flushed slightly.

"Was that really the best you could do, Lelouch?" Milly pouted. "Talk about non-committal."

"You asked for his opinion, and he gave it," Leila said evenly.

"Aw, loosen up! You don't have to be a stick-in-the-mud like Lelouch!"

"Le-louch!" Rivalz growled.

"Why are you so upset, Rivalz?" Rolo asked.

"It's not fair!" Rivalz moaned. "Even if there wasn't that Earl, I wouldn't stand a chance!"

"What was that, Rivalz?" Milly asked with faux innocence.

"Um, nothing Madam Prez! You really did deliver on that promise!"

"You all look great," Suzaku smiled.

"See, Lelouch!" Milly grinned. "That's how it's done!"

Alice seemed amused by the proceedings. Bending over to Nunnally, she asked, "Is being able to win a beauty contest a requirement to join the Student Council or something? It's not just the girls either."

"Wait! You're asking Nunna that?" Shirley gasped, turning red.

Milly's grin grew even wider. "Well, I've always been of the opinion that if Lelouch ever lost his interest in gambling, he could make a fortune as a male fashion model, sure to set hearts throbbing..."

Shirley went even redder.

"That will never happen," Lelouch said bluntly. The last thing he needed was for his face to be posted everywhere.

"Fine," Milly said with a wink. "But what I do need is some help applying some sun lotion to my back."

"Hey!" Kallen snapped.

"Do you really think I'm going to fall for that one, Madam President?" Lelouch asked. "You could have any of the other girls to help you."

"Dang!"

"Besides, if Lulu was going to rub lotion on one of our backs, he'd have to do it for all of us."

There was silence.

"Wait. Did I actually say that out loud?" Shirley asked.

"What a great idea, Shirley!" Milly grinned.

"Well... then nobody has to fight, right?" Shirley asked. Her cheeks were still red, but she sounded more sure of herself.

Lelouch's eyes narrowed. Once, Shirley would have never voiced such a thought, let alone stand by it. The encounter with her Shadow had changed her, and she could now accept that she had that side to her. But for her to be so forward about it... was this Shirley's idea of taking Tsu's reading to heart?

"If you think -" Kallen began.

"Don't forget me, big brother!" Nunnally called.

Kallen gave Nunnally an odd look, and then sighed. "I guess if it really is everyone, I can't complain too much." Her tone regained its sharpness. "But don't even think of doing anything you wouldn't do with your own sister."

"You know, I can help out too," Suzaku offered. "It would get the job done faster."

"Sometimes, you can be just as clueless as he is," Arthur sighed, coming up behind Suzaku and the other boys.

"You really don't get it, do you, Suzaku?" Rivalz said.

Before Suzaku could ask what Rivalz meant, Arthur leapt up and bit his hand.

"Ow! Arthur!"

Some things never changed.

xXx

Lelouch ended up applying lotion to each of the girls' backs, sans Alice, who said she would prefer it if Nunnally helped her. He felt awkward doing it, but at least the crisis had been avoided. Still, he couldn't say that it was an entirely unpleasant experience, especially as he helped Shirley and Kallen, though he made sure to keep it quick and to the point, to avoid any accusations of behaving in an untoward manner.

By now, everyone else had spread out on the beach, and was wholeheartedly following Milly's executive order to have fun. As Black Knights and Irregulars, most of them had a vested interest in finding out what exactly Earl Asplund was studying here, especially if had attracted Prince Schneizel's attention. Yet at the same time, they couldn't just go search for them in broad daylight. That would only attract suspicion, and it could well be suicidal if they did so in the real world and ran into the guards. So for now, they were just ordinary high school students enjoying the beach to themselves.

Milly was sunbathing. Shirley swam in the ocean, her movements practiced and graceful. Leila frolicked in the water, evidently enjoying the opportunity to not worry about the constraints of nobility. Suzaku was skillfully catching fish for dinner later, though thankfully he wasn't doing anything perverse with them, unlike in a certain dream. Alice had helped his sister out of her wheelchair, and they were making sand castles together. Rivalz had gotten Rolo to play frisbee with him. Kallen and Nina were together, sitting under one of the umbrellas. Nina seemed to be busy double-checking her calculations in preparation for her meeting with Earl Asplund later that evening, while Kallen looked miserable, watching the others have fun in activities she couldn't participate in without being completely out of character for her false, sickly persona.

Then Sayoko brought out several large watermelons that she had bought on the mainland, which she had somehow kept hidden until now, as well as a bokken, a wooden Japanese training sword. Lelouch recognized the game at once, suikawari. It was similar to piñata, with each participant being blindfolded, spun around three times, and then attempting to split the watermelon in two. Kallen excused herself with a fake cough, saying she probably wouldn't be able to dent them, but predictably Suzaku managed to smash a watermelon on the first try, cleanly cleaving it into two equal halves. Shirley also managed to smash her watermelon on the first try, though hers cracked into several pieces instead. She might have lacked Suzaku's absurd strength and long practice with a blade under Todoh's uncompromising tutelage, but she did better than the other girls who participated. It made sense. Shirley was an athlete, unlike Milly or Nina, and while Leila practiced Aikido, Shirley was taller than her, which let Shirley add more power to her swing. As was the tradition, every shared pieces of the watermelons afterward, which were deliciously juicy, something that brightened Kallen's mood.

"What exactly did you mean earlier, when you said Suzaku was being clueless?" Lelouch heard Rolo asking Rivalz.

"I don't think I quite phrased it that way," Rivalz replied. "But they're all into him," he said, glancing at Lelouch.

"Oh, I see," Rolo replied. "I must have misheard you."

xXx

The afternoon continued on. Lelouch had wandered down the beach, ostensibly collecting shells for Nunnally, but he was conversing with Arthur out of earshot of the others.

"We'll have to be prepared for that eventuality," Lelouch said, as they neared the end of their discussion.

"I agree," Arthur replied.

"Now that I think of it, Arthur, there's another incident that I want to -"

"Hey, Lulu!" Shirley waved, running over to them. "Aren't you going to come and rejoin the rest of us?"

"Yeah, I 'll be right there in a minute, Shirley!" he called back.

"We'll continue this another time," he told Arthur, bending down to pet him for the benefit of those watching, even he lowered his own voice.

Arthur nodded. "Still, I'm glad you still can confide in me... after what I did at the hot springs."

"Oh, I won't be forgetting that little betrayal any time soon, Tama. I'll get even with you one day for that."

"I'd deserve it," Arthur frowned.

"Our mission comes first, and you are still valuable as an ally. But you have to trust us." Lelouch folded his arms. "I thought that you would know me better by now. Shirley and Euphy would say that I should just forgive you. But you'll have to earn it after a stunt like that."

"You could have just kicked me out, and I'd be a stray once again..." Arthur murmured. "But instead you gave me another chance..."

"It's more that you're on probation. Pull something like that again, and I'm through with you."

"Even so, I won't waste it! I'll show you that you can put your trust in me again!"

Lelouch smirked slightly. He could feel Arthur's determination even now, and the power of the Magician grew within him. Who would have thought that the midst of disaster would bring such an opportunity for renewal?

xXx

When it came time to prepare dinner, Shirley and Leila each tried to help out with the cooking. It should have been a relatively straightforward meal, fried fish and foraged fruits and berries. But Shirley had absolutely none of the grace while trying to cook that she did in the water, and almost sent their meal tumbling straight into the fire, while it seemed that Leila had little concept of how to cook at all. Leila had been determined to make some kind of sauce for the fish, but she didn't have the proper ingredients. While she'd made some...creative substitutions with what they could find in the forest, what had started out seeming fairly promising quickly spiraled out of control. Leila had frantically tried to counteract the effects of whatever she had put in last, but it only made things worse.

"Leila, stop!" Milly called out. "Let me see what you have. Lelouch, you come too. You're pretty good at cooking, so maybe you can give her some advice."

Lelouch peered over to see what exactly Leila had simmering over the fire, and instantly wished that he hadn't. It was supposed to be a sauce, but overall it seemed to have a consistency more like pudding, though parts of it were runnier that it should have been. It smelled like burning, rotting eggs, rising up to his nostrils not as smoke, but as more of a thick, purplish miasma. Bits of wild mushrooms and herbs could be seen sprinkled in it, jiggling along with the mixture as parts of it started taking on a more gelatinous texture and turning a sickly green.

"Umm... Leila..." Milly asked as gently as she could. "What exactly did you put in there?"

Lelouch felt his stomach retching. That eldritch concoction was not food... it was an abomination, something that utterly defied the logic of the world but existed anyway, no matter how revolting it was.

"I'm sorry," Leila said softly. "Even I'm not sure how I managed to ruin it like that... And after everyone worked so hard to gather ingredients... What a waste..."

"Let's just get it away from the food," Milly said. "We'll bury it in the woods away from the campsite before it can stink everything up."

"My, what a surprise," a drawling voice said. It was Earl Asplund, accompanied by Cecile. "My fiancée doing some old-fashioned campfire cooking with her friends!" He paused, and his eyes lit up. "Is that pudding?" He asked excitedly.

"Earl Asplund, you don't understand-" Milly started desperately.

"There's no need to be modest." He ambled over to them, oblivious of the danger. "I'm sure it will be just fine. Let's give it a try."

"I think you should listen to her," Cecile started. "I don't think that's-"

Heedlessly, the earl produced a spoon and scooped up some of the vile mixture, putting it in his mouth before they could stop him.

The Earl swirled it around in his mouth once before he seemed to process exactly what he was attempting to ingest. He gagged on it, and his eyes began watering. He made an undignified dash across the beach, and proceeded to hurl it out, along with the other contents of his stomach, into the water.

xXx

"I'm so sorry," Milly said, as the Earl drank a canteen's worth of water to cleanse the foul taste from his mouth. "I tried to warn you."

"It's quite alright," the Earl replied. "Part of me wishes I could study the chemistry of what made such a noxious substance. Mystery Food X, I might call it for the lack of a better term. It certainly has potential as a chemical weapon... But even without a heart, I do not think I could stand to make such a dreadful weapon."

"Maybe you'd like to try something of mine next time instead," Cecile said with a smile. "I've been spending a lot of time practicing my cooking."

"I'll have to pass, Cecile. One culinary near-death experience is enough for me."

Thankfully, the meal, sans Mystery Food X, was delicious, in no small part due to Milly and Lelouch taking over for Shirley and Leila, and everyone found themselves contentedly full. Earl Asplund excused himself to meet with Nina in her tent to review her work, while the rest of them passed time in front of the campfire, telling ghost stories. When Nina emerged, she was beaming with pride.

xXx

The summer rains came in later that night, torrential and with winds howling. Nevertheless, Lelouch managed to sleep through the tempest, drifting into a most unusual dream. A distorted cinema.. a strange girl...allies present, past, and future... other realities coming together... In the center of it all, the maelstrom incarnate, an Administrator of the Collective Unconsciousness.

"If your resolve, beliefs, and determination are as you say... then prove this!" the Administrator boomed. One by one, the Administrator tried to erase his friends from existence, but they were saved by the faith of that strange girl, calling them back from oblivion. They rallied, Wild Cards striking in unison, and the Administrator was struck down.

"When humans interact with each other, each person takes a toll on the other's heart. Even if you drive me away, there will be no end to such strife."

In the end, the Administrator was gracious in defeat, yet promised to return as many times as necessary. But then the dream was over, and memories of it seemed to slip from Lelouch's grasp, leaving him with only fleeting fragments.

Still, he felt remarkably well rested when he awoke, invigorated even. The storm that had passed over Kamine Island had cleared, and Lelouch felt the urge to wander outside, guided by a shimmering blue butterfly. It seemed surreal. Was he still dreaming?

The butterfly led him to the edge of the waterfall, where a blue prison door gently gleamed in the dim morning light. Shi and Tsu were here after all, and they had created an entrance to the Velvet Room away from the camp, something Lelouch was thankful for. He stepped inside, at once finding himself in his cell, dressed in a straitjacket. He was still as much of a prisoner of the Velvet Room as always. Yet curiously, Igor was nowhere to be seen.

"How do you feel, Inmate?" Tsu's voice rang out.

"That was amazing, Mr. Lelouch!" Shi smiled. "You, Miss Nunnally, Mr.-"

"What are you talking about?" Lelouch asked.

"Pay it no mind," Tsu said, walking in front of his cell. "We don't have time to explain it to you if you can't be bothered to remember it. What matters is that the Nose was away during that tempest. He'll be back before long, but for once we can speak freely here, Inmate."

"Igor is behind everything," Lelouch said quickly. "Mementos, and the Palaces, I mean."

"That much was obvious, Inmate," Tsu replied. "I've been dropping hints for a while now."

"Our Master does not guide you as he should," Shi frowned. "He bosses you around like a slave... like us. I don't want him to hurt you, Mr. Lelouch." Shi started to cry.

"It's become clear that someone has tampered with our memories," Tsu continued. She narrowed her eyes. "Someone with something to hide. Someone who demands much, but gives little in return."

Lelouch nodded, recalling the pain Tsu had felt when he had asked her who constructed Mementos, and how Shi knew the words of a poem that she had no way of learning.

"We still can't remember everything that has been taken from us," Tsu concluded. "But what we've been able to piece together is enough."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Lelouch asked. "Are you simply going to let Igor do as he pleases? Or will you help me overthrow him?"

"Mr. Lelouch!" Shi gasped. "You can't! He'll kill you and your sister if he knows what you're planning! You can't rely on another miracle-"

"Another miracle?" Lelouch asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Never mind that," Tsu said, cutting her sister off. "The fact of the matter is, we are cursed to be bound to this room, alone for eternity. You can't change that... even if you are a Trickster, Inmate. We might enjoy your company for a time, but you'll die one day, along with anyone else who might have shown us kindness, leaving us only with pain."

"I think you should appreciate the company you have more," Lelouch retorted.

"Don't go getting a big head, Inmate," Tsu replied acidly.

"I wasn't talking about myself." He gestured at Shi. "I was talking about your sister. You'll never be alone as long as you have her. You don't realize how precious having a sibling can be. The only reason I was able to go on after the Invasion was because I had Nunnally."

Tsu glanced at Shi. "That's right... My... little sister... How could I... No, that's... Ugh!" She clutched her head in pain.

Shi hugged her sister. "It's okay. Don't rush yourself, Big Sister. You'll remember one day."

Tsu seemed to recover from her headache and nodded. "My sister's company or not, we're still trapped here, and it's hardly a kindness to tempt us with what we can never have."

"Then why call me here in the first place?" He asked forcefully. Seeing Tsu glower at him, he decided to take a different approach. "You know, I've never properly thanked you."

"For what, Inmate?" Tsu asked.

"My contract has always been with you, hasn't it? It was your voice that I heard when I awoke to my power, which let me take the first steps on my journey. And we're no longer just warden and inmate. You said it yourself. We're accomplices."

"Go on," Tsu said, eyeing him curiously.

"The terms of our contract were that I would make your wish come true. So what do you _really_ want?"

"I want to be free!" Shi bobbed up and down. "I've seen so much on this trip, but there's so much out there that I want to see and do! I want to have as many friends as you do, Mr. Lelouch!"

Tsu frowned. "Do you know why snow is white, Inmate? Snow is white because it's forgotten what color it's supposed to be."

"Does it matter what color it's supposed to be?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think snow is beautiful. But more to the point, if you think you're empty, then you're like the number zero, and-"

"Filled with limitless possibilities," the sisters murmured in unison.

"It something's holding you back from realizing those possibilities, then smash it!"

"Is it really possible?" Tsu asked, looking away from him. "I'm a witch, a figment that pretends to be human, but doesn't belong in your world."

"If you're a witch, then I'm a demon, chained to hell itself," Lelouch told her.

"Trickster..." Tsu whispered. She looked up. "Even with our combined powers, we would not be a match for the Nose."

"Maybe we just need to believe in him, Big Sister!" Shi pleaded. "Maybe that can create a miracle for him!"

Tsu held up a hand. "Not yet." For a moment, Shi looked crushed with disappointment. "He can't do it as he is. But we will continue to guide him, until he proves himself ready." A slight smile spread on her face. "Perhaps I've grown foolish by spending too much time around you, Trickster." She glanced down at Shi. "You are prepared to see this through, even knowing that it will bring you pain?"

"Yes, Big Sister!"

Tsu sighed. "Then who am I to refuse my little sister when she's so earnest? She's almost like..." She paused.

"What is it?" Lelouch asked.

"It's nothing," Tsu said quickly. "Let us renew our contract, Trickster. When you are ready, we will stand by your side."

"I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath

Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion

And break the yoke of thy heart.

Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret

of Death, granting thee infinite power…"

"Persephone, the Queen of the Underworld," Tsu mused. "The strongest Persona of the Death Arcana. You may have been right, sister. This is a small miracle in of itself."

"Normally, we'd never let you risk fusing such a powerful Persona," Shi said, beaming.

"But there are ways around that." Tsu smirked. "We could always give you... 'special treatment'. We really are your accomplices now, after all. Of course, we can't just do it for free. That would make the Nose too suspicious."

"And I thought you just wanted to feed your pizza habit."

"What a cruel man," Tsu smirked.

xXx

"Lelouch?" a familiar voice asked behind him as he left the Velvet Room.

Turning around, Lelouch saw Euphemia on the other side of the waterfall. "Euphy?"

"I managed to get here early, before that big storm last night, and I thought that I would try to see you when no one would notice my absence."

"You used the Navigator, didn't you?"

She nodded, and her expression turned serious. "Did you know that our older brother, Schneizel, is coming here?"

Lelouch nodded. "Earl Asplund mentioned it."

"Whatever's in those ruins has to be really important if he's making a detour from his mission to negotiate with the leaders of the Chinese Federation," Euphemia continued. "That's his official reason for being here, anyway, but we both know he isn't the type to be interested in simple sightseeing."

"Can you direct us to the ruins?" Lelouch asked. "All Earl Asplund said were that they were on the interior of the island."

"Once you're in the Metaverse, you can't miss them" she replied.

"What do you mean?"

Euphemia frowned. "There's a massive Distortion in the direction of the ruins. I only saw it from a distance... but... I think it might be a Palace."

"Who would have a Palace on a desert island?" Lelouch asked.

"I don't know," Euphemia replied, shaking her head. "Hopefully, we'll be able to find out."

He nodded. "I'll let the others know."

"I know you'll want to take a closer look in the Metaverse, but please be careful, Lelouch. I'll be able to take a look inside the ruins with Earl Asplund, so please don't be reckless." She handed him a small receiver. "I'll be wearing a microphone, so you'll be able to hear anything that we discuss once you're back in the real world. Its range is shorter than I'd like though, so you'll have to be pretty close."

"Thank you, Euphy. I'll be careful."

xXx

"A competition?" Rivalz asked.

"Why not?" Milly asked. "First team to brave the forest, reach the top of the big mountain, and return to camp will be the winner! Oh, but we can make it like a scavenger hunt too, so you have to gather certain items in the forest first, or you'll be disqualified."

"Now you're making up the rules as you go along," Lelouch said. In this case, he knew what Milly was up to, but the others would think it unusual if he didn't object to such a half-baked game.

"President's orders!"

"Sounds fun," Suzaku grinned. Of course he would enjoy a physical activity like this.

"Shouldn't we stay closer to camp?" Rolo asked. "Aren't you afraid that we'll get in trouble? What if a team wanders too close to the ruins?"

"Don't be such a worrywart," Milly laughed. "I'm sure we all have the sense to turn back if we realize that we've gone too far!"

Milly assigned the teams, deliberately ensuring that the Black Knights stayed together. Lelouch was paired up with Kallen. Milly, Leila, and Shirley formed a team of three, with Milly offering the excuse that she was the one who had invited Leila, so she should stick with her, and that Shirley was the most approachable member of the Student Council, though doubtlessly the others thought it was to keep an eye on them after the Mystery Food X fiasco. Rivalz was Suzaku's partner, and Nina went with Rolo. Officially, Alice would be staying behind with Nunnally, as her legs meant that she couldn't participate in the competition, but in actuality the two Irregulars had decided that they would accompany the Black Knights for as far as they could.

Lelouch and Kallen headed off toward the mountain together, as the teams slowly fanned out, ostensibly looking for the the items that Milly had put on the scavenger list. Once they were out of sight, Lelouch activated the Metaverse Navigator, and reality shifted around them. The forests around them seemed visibly unchanged, but as they turned toward the interior and looked through the gaps in the canopy, the skies turned a roiling red, shimmering with Distortion, but unlike the Distortions in Mementos, it did not seem to be a portal so much as an impenetrable wall, cutting off all access from the outside.

"Noire wasn't kidding," Kallen said. "Only a Palace could create a Distortion of that size."

"I'm sensing your position" Leila's voice spoke telepathically into his mind. "Everyone is in the Metaverse. Shall I direct them to investigate the Distortion."

"Affirmative," he thought back.

xXx

"I know this is kind of odd to bring up now," Kallen said as they walked, "But I had the strangest dream last night. I can't recall much of it, but it had my brother, and he was fighting alongside us."

"Funny that you should mention that," Lelouch replied. "I had an odd dream as well last night. I think-"

"Wait," Kallen said, suddenly interrupting him.

"What is it?" Kallen asked.

"Look around us," she replied. "The atmosphere is getting more oppressive, and the forest more distorted." There now seemed to be a swirling in the air, floating specks of darkness being drawn inward toward the Distortion like it was an enormous vortex. "Palaces draw in Shadows. If we go much further, we're likely to run into Shadows here, even though we're outside of the Palace proper."

Lelouch concentrated, using the Third Eye. Though the world around him darkened, he could perceive shapes moving through the woods ahead, seemingly lumbering toward the Distortion like moths to a flame, their outlines surrounded by a menacing red glow.

"You're right," he said.

"Zero, this is Bishop," Leila's voice said telepathically. "I'm sensing hostiles ahead. They're much more powerful than the Shadows we've fought in the Palaces so far. We can't proceed any further here in the Metaverse without risking being wiped out."

"Are we past the guards' perimeter?" Lelouch thought back.

"I think so," she replied.

"Then hold your position and continue guiding everyone toward you. Once we've regrouped, we'll return to the real world, and see what we can discover."

xXx

Thankfully, everyone arrived safely at the rendezvous point, and they left the Metaverse together. Lelouch carried Nunnally on his back as they made their way through the woods. She was chagrined at being a liability, but the fact remained that she couldn't walk on this side, and it wasn't practical for her to bring her wheelchair with her on excursions into the Metaverse either, as it was just an unneeded burden for her in that other world. In any case, the rough terrain would have have largely made Nunnally's wheelchair useless here. Still, she seemed happy that he was bringing her with him, and Lelouch would never begrudge Nunnally that. Besides, she deserved to learn whatever secrets the island held with them. They could have simply turned back and eavesdropped through Euphy's receiver, but some things were better seen in person.

They soon came upon cliffs that overlooked a large clearing, with a cave opening on the other side. Euphemia was in the clearing, accompanied by Earl Asplund and a platoon of Britannian soldiers. They appeared to be waiting for something, or someone.

Arthur's head perked up. "Something's coming."

"From where?" Milly whispered.

"Above," Arthur replied as he looked upward.

"No way..." Shirley gasped as a large shadow passed overhead.

It was an aircraft of some sort, though perhaps it was better described as an airship. It had wings of a kind, but not like those of a plane, near the back and seeming short compared to its length, which must have been about 200 meters, bending up at the ends. It moved smoothly through the air, and was far quieter than a jet or a VTOL would have been, giving the impression that was it floating in defiance of gravity. The craft's underbelly was white, with gold-trimmed landing gear that resembled skis, though its sides were covered in plates that had been painted orange. It appeared to be fairly lightly armed, but it had a long main gun in the front. No, that wasn't a main gun. As the airship drew closer, Lelouch saw that it was a track of some kind.

"I've never seen a ship like that before, but it has to be Schneizel's personal transport," Lelouch hissed. Schneizel had always been a strong supporter of the sciences in Britannia, and as its Prime Minister, he would have access to most of the latest breakthroughs. No doubt his new airship would make quite an impression upon the Chinese Federation, a show of Britannian's technological superiority.

The airship landed in the clearing, a boarding ramp lowered, and sure enough, Second Prince Schneizel emerged.

"To think you two are related, Lulu..." Shirley murmured, looking down at the Second Prince.

"Quiet," Lelouch whispered. "Let's just listen."

"Euphy, this is a surprise!" the Second Prince said warmly.

"Schneizel, I've missed you!" the Third Princess and spy for the Black Knights replied, moving as if to embrace him, but stopping short, as if remembering protocol.

"What brings you here, Euphy?" Schneizel asked.

"I heard that you'd be coming here before making your final approach to the Settlement, and I wanted to be the first to greet you to Area 11. Though I do admit that I am curious about the ruins here as well. I had no idea that this island used to be inhabited."

"Very few people know that this island exists these days," Schneizel replied. He turned to Earl Asplund. "I heard you invited your fiancée and some of her friends here?"

"Yes, Your Highness," the Earl admitted. "They're on the other side of the island."

"Going forward, we shouldn't be so lax about security. This island is supposed to be classified." The Second Prince laughed disarmingly. "But I can hardly blame you for wanting to share a paradise like this with her. We all bend the rules from time to time, don't we? As long as she doesn't talk about the island and stays away from the ruins, I do not see any harm in it."

"Thank you, your highness," the Earl said. "Though if I may ask, what exactly are you expecting to find in these ruins that requires my Druid System? The Gawain's frame isn't even finished yet, and here you need its brain."

"I trust you've heard of Code-R?" Schneizel asked.

"Who hasn't?" the Earl shrugged. "The Black Knights have seen to it that almost everyone in Area 11 has heard of it."

"You mean... that horrible project Clovis was working on?" Euphemia frowned, perfectly playing the part of one who didn't know more than what had been publicly leaked or confessed to.

"The same," Schneizel nodded. "While we may never know exactly what Code-R entailed, as those who worked on it are sadly no longer with us, from what we've been able to piece together, it was research into a field known as Cognitive Psience."

"Psience?" Earl Asplund asked. "As in Psionics? That's just occultism masquerading as science."

"Clovis believed it though, as did the late General Bartley. We managed to retrieve some documents from Bartley. Evidently, they thought the ruins on this island might hold the key to opening another world. They couldn't figure out how to activate the mechanisms within, but they noted that they bore a resemblance to a neural network, though exceedingly complex. But with your Druid System, we may finally be able to fully map and discern its internal workings. Even if this 'Cognitive World' is just a fantasy, the builders of the ruins within were unquestionably advanced, and I'm sure we have much to learn from their technology."

"Hmm... so any sufficiently advanced technology may seem indistinguishable from magic?" Earl Asplund said, stroking his chin. "You've got my interest."

"What did our brother want to gain from all this?" Euphemia asked.

"I don't know, Euphy," Schneizel said. His expression turned grave. "Though there is something else that troubles me from Bartley's reports."

"What is it, Schneizel?" Euphemia asked.

Schneizel glanced over his shoulder, and lowered his voice to a conspiratorial tone, though they could still here him through Euphemia's microphone. "This isn't the only site with such ruins. His Majesty has been aggressively investigating sites like this one across the world. Sites that happen to be located within the countries we've conquered. But that's not all. Back in Pendragon, I can say that His Majesty grows less interested in handling 'mundane' matters of governance with each passing day. The only counsel he seems to accept these days comes from those strange, robed advisors who are always in his shadow. They've been part of the court for as long as anyone can remember, but something's not right. I fear His Majesty is more immersed in the research of 'Cognitive Psience' than Clovis ever was, and so too I must understand what would drive His Majesty to such lengths."

"Why tell me this?!" Euphemia gasped. "That's-"

"I trust you, Euphy," Schneizel whispered. "When the time comes, you'll do the right thing."

Lelouch scowled. Schneizel wasn't somebody who _trusted_ other people. Schneizel used them. Could Schneizel somehow suspect Euphemia's involvement in the Black Knights, or was he reading too much into it? As for Schneizel's other revelation, if his father was so obsessed with these ruins, then the Distortion they had witnessed was most likely...

"Charles zi Britannia... Kamine Island Ruins," Lelouch whispered into the MetNav.

"What are you doing?" Leila said in alarm. "If we go into the Metaverse here-"

He felt something resonate. "Keyword needed to acquire destination's coordinates," the MetNav replied.

So the MetNav didn't reject the other two keywords as invalid. Somehow, this this desert island was the location of his father's Palace, an implication that Leila immediately grasped when she saw the results on his screen.

It was frustrating. Who knew when they would be able to come back to Kamine Island and steal his father's twisted heart? But he had no idea what his father saw this place as, and so entrance was denied to him. Even if they could enter, it would be suicidal at the moment, considering the strength of the Shadows that were being drawn into it.

"Well, I'm just another cog in the machine, as they say," they heard Earl Asplund say below with a shrug. "Let's get started!"

 **A/N:**

 **Another longer delay between chapters compared to the more rapid pace I had at the start of the chapter. To be fair, I believe this is the single longest chapter to date, and portions of it underwent 2-3 rewrites, though I think the chapter is much stronger for them.**

 **I exaggerated Leila's lack of skill to the point of her making Mystery Food X, but she is a poor cook in canon.**

 **The "dream" in the middle of the chapter is a nod to Persona Q2, a spinoff crossover title that includes the P5 cast, so I thought I would make reference to it in this chapter as well.**

 **I originally planned for some particularly difficult quests to conclude the Death Confidant (which I think I can still work in later in a modified form), but I decided for reasons of pacing it was better to cut those for now. Persephone is also an altered ultimate Persona compared to canon Persona 5. Those familiar with both Code Geass and Shin Megami Tensei may be able to hazard a guess as to why I chose Persephone, but I can't get into that without spoilers. I will say however that one secondary reason was that P5's canonical ultimate Persona is named 'Alice', which would be confusing with another character already named Alice in the story.**

 **The existence of the ruins as Kamine Island may strike readers as odd, as I've said that the story takes place in a world without Geass. It is true that Geass does not exist in the setting, but there is more to this than I've let on, which will be revealed later in the story.**

 **Fun fact, you can see one of those "robed advisors" (those who have watched Code Geass will know who they actually are) standing behind the Emperor in the scene where Lelouch is banished in the anime.**

 **Next time, we will (very briefly) conclude the summer trip, and then move onto Mementos and the main 5th arc.**

 **Edit: Revised Lelouch's conversation with Arthur.**


	49. Akzeriyyuth

The Black Knights and Irregulars silently withdrew soon after Euphemia, Schneizel, and Earl Asplund disappeared into the cave. They were able to get a crude idea of what the ruins within the cave looked like from listening in over the microphones. There was apparently something that looked like a large, sealed stone gate, with an occult symbol carved into it, with a matching symbol on a small pyramidal structure in front of it, which the earl said was likely a control mechanism. But it became clear that there would be little in the way of useful new information; it would take Earl Asplund several hours at minimum before preliminary results could be compiled from his Druid System. They couldn't afford to wait that long. Suzaku's team was sure to finish the "competition" well before them, but if even Nina and Rolo finished before all of them, the detective would start to wonder what they had been doing. They had already been fortunate enough that none of the soldiers had noticed them, and it seemed unwise to press their luck further.

They retraced their steps, moving far enough from the Emperor's Palace so that they wouldn't be attacked by Shadows when they re-entered the Metaverse, and bypassed the security perimeter once again. They had to move quickly to make up for lost time and put in a good showing for the competition, working up a sweat in the process, save for Nunnally and Alice, who headed directly back to camp through the Metaverse. But in the end, they managed to scale the mountain and find the required items fast enough to avoid rousing suspicions.

The rest of the day passed, for the most part, uneventfully. They avoided any repeat of Mystery Food X, and everyone agreed that, hiccups aside, it had been an enjoyable island vacation.

Before retiring for the evening, Lelouch slipped away from the camp to meet with Euphemia by the waterfall again, so that he could fill her in on what they had discovered. She was already there when he arrived, which was not entirely unexpected in of itself.

What he didn't expect was to find his half-sister dressed in only her swimsuit, sitting in the pool beneath the waterfall. At first it appeared to be a light pink, almost white two-piece with a frilly edge that was held in place by thin, crisscrossing purple straps, though after a moment he realized it was merely the outer layer, worn over a white bandeau and a matching bikini bottom. Although he couldn't recall if it had been one of the swimsuits sketched in Clovis's Palace, Lelouch was certain that the late Viceroy had been its designer; it had all the hallmarks of Clovis' style.

"Why are you dressed like that?" he asked.

"It seemed a shame not to enjoy such a beautiful spot while I was here," Euphemia replied, as the faint light of the crescent moon shimmered off the water. "The pool's quite refreshing. I don't mind if you come in."

"I'll pass."

Euphemia frowned. "You never used to have a problem when you, Nunnally, and I would bathe together."

"That's different. We were kids back then."

Euphemia sighed. "I suppose it would seem a bit strange now..." She looked up again. "I wish I could have spent more time with her outside of the onsen, but did Nunnally have fun?"

"Yes, she did, all the more because she could see everyone's faces and enjoy the scenery with them."

Euphemia smiled faintly. "I'm glad to hear that. Though I suppose I'm a bit jealous... you and Nunnally, living the lives of commoners... you have so much freedom and so many friends compared to what I have as a Princess." She shook her head. "Even now, I'm only free to be myself, and really fight for what I believe in while I'm with you in the Metaverse. In the real world, I have to be furtive if I want to meet with you, and I have to wear a mask in front of everyone. Lying to Cornelia is the hardest part."

"Does she suspect you?"

"Cornelia has a bit of a blind spot where I'm involved. She knows I can be a bit rebellious at times, but I think she's in denial as to the extent of that."

"Be careful, Euphy."

"I know," she replied. "Well... I suppose we should get down to business."

Lelouch nodded. "That Distortion was our father's Palace."

"Really?" Euphemia asked, genuine surprise on her face. "I thought it might be a Palace, but I never expected that Father's Palace would be here of all places."

"I have no idea what the last keyword is," Lelouch admitted. "Even if we could enter, the Shadows guarding the Palace are very powerful. Still, did you hear anything while you were with Earl Asplund that might give us a clue?" He paused. "And I meant to ask you this earlier, but how did you get that microphone and transmitter anyway?"

"Jeremiah got it for me, through his contacts in Intelligence," Euphemia explained. She shook her head sadly. "Even after hours of analyzing it with the Druid System, Earl Asplund still hasn't been able to figure out how the mechanism in the ruins was supposed to work. It appears to be inert. He kept saying 'Something's missing...', but he seems no closer to figuring out what it is. There were ancient characters written in the ruins, but they weren't in any language he could recognize either." Her eyes lit up. "There was one thing I noticed though."

"What's that?"

"It may be nothing... but the symbol on the ruins reminded me of Nunnally's mask. They have the same basic shape, almost like a bird in flight." She traced a shape with her fingers. "If it wasn't rocky around the pool, I'd draw it for you. Well, there's always later."

That still didn't tell him what the keyword might be.

"I'm sorry. That didn't help at all, did it?"

"You did well, Euphy," Lelouch told her. "But do keep an eye on Schneizel for us. You know you can't trust him, right? He's probably more dangerous to us than even Cornelia."

Euphemia nodded sadly. "When he said I would do the right thing when the time comes... It felt like he could see right through me."

"Schneizel's always been like that. The worst thing you can do is let him get to you. Then you won't have a chance at all against him."

"Oh, there's one other thing!" Euphemia said. "Earl Asplund told me about the work that girl, Nina, has been doing. I'm going to invite her to meet with me once we return to the Settlement."

"You have no idea how much that will mean to her, Euphy."

"It was the least I could do..." She glanced up at the sky, and then to him. "I'm glad we were able to talk like this, Lelouch." She rose from the pool and stepped out, so that she was next to him.

"Take care, Euphy," he said, before giving her a quick hug. Bathing together was no longer an option, but they were still family, and he could show her affection as such.

"Lelouch...!" she whispered, a blush tinging her cheeks, before a warm smile spread on her face.

Why was she reacting like that? She was his half-sister, not... He pushed that thought from his mind. "And thank you," he told her.

"I'm the one who should be thanking you, Lelouch," she replied, further confusing him even as he felt the power of the Empress grow within him. She waved as she turned to go. "I'll see you and Nunnally later!"

xXx

The next day, they began the trip back to Ashford Academy. After taking the ferry back to Shimoda, they spent some time in the city, as Milly had promised earlier. The group saw Ryosenji Temple together, which was just as boring and filled with Britannian propaganda as he had expected. Fortunately, they later stopped in Kawazu as they started heading back up the Izu Peninsula, and took a short hike to see the Seven Waterfalls, which was a scenic and altogether pleasant excursion. But soon, the Student Council's summer trip had to come to an end.

xXx

"Breaking news: the Knight of Ten, Luciano Bradley, announced his resignation this morning and asked that the Emperor pass judgment upon him after confessing to numerous crimes, including murder, torture, and rape. This comes after a calling card was delivered from the group calling itself the Glinda Knights, striking yet again at the heart of the Empire. His Majesty has made no statement as of this time, but Prime Minister and Second Prince Schneizel, who is currently meeting with representatives of the Chinese Federation in Area 11, has promised that these so-called 'Knights' will be captured and brought to justice. We turn it over now to our panel of experts."

"Thank you," one of the talking heads on the TV said. "It's becoming clear that the Glinda Knights are a far greater threat than the Black Knights ever were."

"But the Black Knights murdered Prince Clovis!" another objected.

"The Knights of the Round are under the direct command of His Imperial Majesty. An attack against any one of them is a naked challenge against the Emperor's authority!"

"Besides, I haven't heard much from the Black Knights recently," a third said.

"We have reports that there have been several changes of hearts in criminals around the Tokyo Settlement in the past several days."

"Who cares about some miscreants in Area 11? The Viceroy, Second Princess Cornelia, is more than capable of handling such rabble!"

The broadcast went on, but Lelouch stopped listening to it, switching his attention to the activity on KnightWatch. The forums were ablaze debating the merits of the Glinda Knights vs. the Black Knights, with some users stridently calling for the Black Knights to make another high-profile change of heart, one that would top changing the heart of the so-called "Vampire of Britannia". A number of suggestions were thrown out. Viceroy Cornelia. The Knight of One. First Princess Guinevere de Britannia, disparagingly called (though never to her face), Britannia's Marie Antoinette for her extravagant spending. A few who were in a particularly treasonous mood even demanded that they change Charles zi Britannia's heart.

Lelouch had no issue with raising the stakes. After all, he did need to raise the profile of the Black Knights if they were ever to breach the barriers in Mementos and find its Treasure. What he refused to do was let anonymous individuals on the internet dictate to him the target and timing of his next heist.

Scrolling across the page, he saw that Diethard had posted a new poll, which had already attracted quite a number of comments.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 25.8%**

"They murdered Prince Clovis."

"Have you seen the sick stuff Clovis was up to?"

"This is the police's job."

"They're still thieves."

"Tell them, Schneizel!"

"They're allies of justice."

"This is so immature."

"Why hasn't this site been taken down yet?"

"My father was in debt to the Black King. Go Black Knights!"

"It's called the law."

"Justice is on the side of the Glinda Knights if you ask me. They haven't killed anyone."

"What about Medjed?"

Lelouch knew he couldn't read too much into the poll results. It was hardly a scientific poll, and selection bias was a serious concern. On one hand, supporters of the Black Knights would be more motivated to participate. On the other hand, many Japanese people lacked basic Internet access, heavily slanting the sample toward a Britannian audience. At best, he could be cautiously optimistic about those numbers, if they represented Britannians who were disaffected with their government, but in the end, their approval or disapproval of the Black Knights was immaterial.

He would change the public's heart, one way or another.

xXx

"What troubles you, Zero?" Kirihara asked, seated on his platform within Kirihara Industries' Mt. Fuji facility.

"It's come to my attention that Genbu Kurugui was interested in a set of ruins on Kamine Island, ruins that Prince Clovis and now Prince Schneizel are investigating, ruins that the Britannian Emperor seems to be invading other countries to study. Do you know anything about this?"

"I regret to say that I do not," Kirihara replied. "But perhaps I can shed some insight on Genbu's motives."

Lelouch nodded.

"You are of course, intimately familiar with the Invasion of Japan, the decisive conflict of the Second Pacific War," Kirihara said. "But what do you know of the First Pacific War?"

"It was a major war, concluded sixty-five years before the Invasion of Japan," Lelouch recited, "in which Japan suffered a major defeat. The Japanese people lost faith in their Imperial family, and subsequently embraced democratic reforms."

"Correct," Kirihara nodded. "Genbu looked back on this defeat with shame. He wanted Japan to reclaim its status as a mighty nation. He had both vision and ambition, and I knew he would be a strong leader, so I threw my support behind him. With my influence, other powerful interests soon aligned themselves with Genbu, all but ensuring his election as Japan's next Prime Minister."

"The increasing importance of Sakuradite in modern technology was an economic windfall for Japan," Kirihara continued, "and by carefully controlling the distribution of Sakuradite and maintaining Japan's own neutrality, Genbu was able to play the superpowers of Britannia, Europia, and the Chinese Federation against each other, while bringing unprecedented prosperity to Japan. But Genbu was not satisfied, and yearned to still greater heights. There was a time that he believed that an alliance with Britannia would be to his benefit."

Lelouch scowled, recalling how Genbu had tried to make arrangements to marry Nunnally. He knew that all too well.

"Even as relations worsened, Genbu sought to improve his bargaining position. If whatever is in those ruins is important enough to earn the attention of your father, and Genbu realized this, then he would have undoubtedly sought to control it for himself."

"Britannia wouldn't bargain when it could just take the ruins and the sakuradite by force," Lelouch snarled.

"In hindsight, that is plain," Kirihara said. "But you must remember, at the time, the world thought that an attack on Japan and its sakuradite reserves would trigger an all-out war between the superpowers. It was only due to the speed in which Britannia completed its conquest, made possible by its Knightmare Frames, that a larger conflict was avoided. Europia and the Chinese Federation saw no point in contesting Britannia's hold over Japan, provided that they could continue to receive a portion its sakuradite, which Britannia agreed to."

"What then?" Lelouch asked, sensing that there was more to the story.

"As you know, Genbu Kururugi was murdered by what came to be known as a mental shutdown. Militarily, our position was untenable. If it became widely known at the time that their Prime Minister had been killed by an unknown assailant, many Japanese would have fought to the last, resulting in needless death and destruction. We decided that a show of acquiescence was the only viable strategy before us. We would nominally accept Britannia's rule for a time and collaborate with their government, while preserving much of Japan's strength, far more than any other conquered Area, waiting for the right opportunity to strike back And so we put out the story that Genbu Kururugi committed suicide in protest of the rapidly escalating hostilities."

Kirihara shook his head. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Genbu always preferred do-or-die resistance, even if it took every last man, woman, and child in Japan. That is all."

"Thank you, Lord Kirihara."

Kirihara nodded solemnly. "Is there anything else that I can do for you, Zero?"

"Actually, there is. I need to borrow some Knightmare Frames."

"I did not think you used such overt methods, Zero," Kirihara said, regarding him curiously.

"I don't," Lelouch replied. "But for my purposes, it is essential that Britannia believes that the Black Knights are in possession of several Knightmare Frames. You'll get them all back when I'm done."

Kirihara burst out into laughter. "Very well, Zero. I look forward to seeing how you make use of them."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 25.3%**

xXx

The video went viral almost as soon as it was uploaded to KnightWatch, spreading first to other subversive websites and then popular forums, far faster than Britannian authorities could take down its seemingly endless copies. Before long, it could no longer be suppressed or ignored, and was being shown on every major television news outlet throughout Area 11, while those investigating the activities of the Black Knights would spend many hours dissecting it frame by frame.

The video appeared to be shot in the abandoned subway tunnels that stretched under the Tokyo Settlement and outlying ghettos, though the particular segment of tunnel in the video appeared to have been carefully chosen to frustrate attempts to easily determine its exact location. At the same time, it was clear that it was not simply an amateur video, but a professional production, complete with lighting chosen for maximum effect.

"People! Fear us, or rally behind us as you see fit, for we are the Black Knights!" a male voice boomed, modulated in post-production to make the speaker's voice unrecognizable. A moment later, he was illuminated from behind, revealing only the silhouette of a man in a trench coat. "I am Zero, the leader of the Black Knights! Britannia is corrupt, a regime clinging to an obsolete system of nobility and prejudice in which the weak are mercilessly crushed by the strong! So former Viceroy Clovis and the criminal known as the Black King were punished. Yet it matters not whether the oppressor is Britannian. Any who prey on the innocent shall know our justice! So it was with Medjed, who was no more than a psychotic serial killer. The only ones who should kill, are those who are prepared to be killed! That is why we are hunting down Prince Clovis' true killer, as well as the murderer of the former Japanese Prime Minister, Genbu Kururugi, whose death was made to look like a suicide! Our justice knows no borders!"

More lights flashed on, revealing the silhouettes of five more figures flanking Zero. The details of their eclectic dress could not be clearly discerned, but they all appeared to be female. Another set of lights revealed that they were standing atop Burais, stocky Knightmare Frames used by better-supplied and organized cells in the resistance, most notably the Japan Liberation Front. Burais had been reverse-engineered and slightly upgraded from Glasgows, and had thicker, bracer-like armor on the arms, which could be used to protect against close-range attacks, in addition to fixed anti-personel machine guns at the bottoms of their chests. Whereas the lighting purposefully hid the identities of the Black Knights, it gave viewers a very good look at the Knightmares. One of the Burais had even been painted red, and the head of the Burai that Zero stood upon had been made to vaguely resemble a samurai helmet, complete with gold-colored horns, while its body had darker grays than the other Burais, and brighter browns.

"Wherever oppressor abuse their power by attacking those who are powerless, we will appear again, no matter how mighty, how formidable our foe may be," Zero continued. He threw out an arm. "Those of you with power, fear us! You shall be made to confess your crimes with your own mouths!" He thew out his other arm, spreading both wide. "Those of you without it, rally behind us! We, the Black Knights, shall be the ones who stand in judgment of this world!"

The video ended there.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 30.6%**

xXx

"Nicely done, Zero!" Milly grinned as they gathered at the entrance to Mementos. "Everyone's talking about our video!"

"I couldn't have done it without Diethard and Kirihara."

"Come on, Zero, you totally stole the show!"

"You really were incredible there," Shirley agreed. "But was it really necessary for us to wear replicas of our Metaverse costumes?"

"Diethard had already figured out that I was with the Black Knights, but there was no sense in letting him see the rest of your faces," Lelouch replied. Privately, he knew that the media man was observant enough to guess the identities of 'Bishop' and 'Noire' at the very least, but of his confidants, only Diethard had the expertise needed to ensure the success of their video. "We weren't going to show Diethard the Metaverse either," Lelouch continued, "and have to protect him from Shadows while filming for us. Besides, they add a certain flair, and anything that gets people talking about the video is good for us at the moment."

"Besides, who would imagine us being dressed like this?" Euphemia asked, smiling, but her expression quickly changed to a worried frown. "Cornelia is furious though. Now that she thinks we're armed with Knightmares in the real world, she's likely to crack down even harder than before."

"That was a given," Lelouch replied. "We'll manage, no matter what your sister throws at us."

"At least everyone's talking about us now," Milly said, leaning in. "The dashing yet mysterious phantom thief Zero, leader of the Black Knights, pledges to steal our hearts, assisted by a bevy of shadowy beauties, his lovers by day and femme fatales by night!"

"What?!" the other girls said in unison.

"Did someone actually write that?" Kallen asked, sounding distinctly cross behind her lotus mask.

"Yup! That stuff's mild compared to some of the steamier stuff that's out there now. But don't worry. They've got almost all of the details wrong, so it's not like they're actually writing about you."

"Not helping!"

"People didn't notice me at all," Arthur sighed.

"Well, you were standing near the hem of my dress," Leila replied evenly. "Perverts aside, I'm curious to see the results of Zero's plan."

"Right," Kallen said. "That's something we can agree on."

They headed down the escalators to the platform, and were greeted not by one, but six Cognitive Knightmare Frames, which took the form of Burais. One of them was painted red, and another had horns marking it as a commander unit, just like the Knightmares in the video.

"Exactly as planned," Lelouch smirked. "The old Glasgow was generated by rumors that the resistance was using stolen Knightmares and transporting them through abandoned subway tunnels, which neatly meshed with Mementos. But you only heard that rumor in whispers. Now everyone in the Tokyo Settlement is talking about us again, and they can't help but think to themselves that we have at least six Burais in our possession, so what else appears here but six new Burais?"

"I had every confidence that your plan would work," Leila smiled.

"The red one is yours, Queen," Lelouch said, "and the horned one is mine. I assume the rest of you don't have any preferences about which Knightmares you take?"

"Umm... how many of you have actually piloted a Knightmare?" Shirley asked.

Kallen, Lelouch, and Euphemia raised their hands.

"Oh, okay!" Milly said, raising her own hand after a moment. "I may have taken out the Ganymede for a spin once... I got in so much trouble for that. But in any case, I know all about the theory. My grandfather's company used to build them, after all."

"I make no claims of having my mother's skill," Lelouch said, "But she was the Knight of Six before she married the Emperor, and Diamond's family has her old Knightmare, so I'm already familiar with the basic control layout, and I've used the Ganymede a few times for school events too."

"You've really piloted a Knightmare?" Kallen asked Euphemia. "I don't mean any offense Noire, but that's the last thing people would expect you to be trained in, given how they see you as-"

"A puppet princess," Euphemia finished. "You're not wrong," she sighed. "But it's impossible to be around Cornelia for as long as I have, and not pick up something about Knightmares. She even made sure I received instruction in their basic operation. She'd never allow me to pilot one into an offensive though, so my training was strictly meant so that I could use one as a last resort, and only then to escape and defend myself. Actually, most royalty receives Knightmare training for emergencies these days, but that didn't start until after you were exiled."

He nodded. "In any event, these mass-production models are designed so basically anyone can learn pilot them, though that comes at the cost of performance." He turned to Kallen. "Queen, as would you give the others a crash course on Knightmare operation? Then we'll pair up, with those who haven't touched a Knightmare before riding with those who have some experience, but going forward we'll aim for having each of you pilot your own Knightmares."

xXx

A short time later, four of the six Burais were zipping along through the twisting tunnels of Mementos, Lelouch in his command Burai, Kallen in her red Knightmare, Shirley with Milly, and Leila and Arthur with Euphemia. There was of course a bit of a learning curve with a new machine, and he wouldn't be doing complex acrobatics like Kallen could with the old Glasgow, but he got a feel for the Burai quickly enough. The new Cognitive Knightmares would serve their purpose. Mementos was simply so vast that they couldn't reasonably expect to make much further progress on foot, and if they could mow down a few Shadows with the Burais, that was all the better. The first objective that had to be met before they could explore Mementos' depths in earnest had been cleared.

Most of the Shadows on the upper levels were effortless for the Black Knights to dispatch now, and could even be eliminated by a quick barrage of machine gun fire, without them ever leaving their Knightmares, but Leila soon cautioned them against doing so. She said the noise of the Knightmares' weaponry was attracting more Shadows, The Reaper among them. Through her quick thinking and extrasensory perception of the paths through the tunnels, she was able to plot a route that not only left The Reaper behind them, but ensured that they wouldn't even cross paths. From then on, they would rely on the tried and tested strategy of ramming Shadows with their Knightmares to stun them, and then finishing them off on foot. It took longer, but the use of smaller arms was much quieter, and the risk of fighting in close quarters was far less than that of another run-in with The Reaper.

Still, they continued to make good time, and soon they had reached the next barrier. It opened for them as they approached, signaling that they had penetrated deep enough into the public's consciousness to be granted access to the next area of the Palace.

"Akzeriyyuth," Leila murmured, as they disembarked from their Knightmares on the platform, a safe area, to rest.

Kallen looked at her quizzically.

"That's the name of this area," Leila explained. "It's inscribed here. Each of the previous areas have had their own names as well. The Paths of Qimranut, Aiyatsubus, Chemdah, and Kaitul have been the previous areas. I think it's in Hebrew, or a corruption thereof. 'Akzeriyyuth' could come from 'Achzariyut', meaning cruelty, so 'Path of Akzeriyyuth' means 'Path of Cruelty.' The others roughly mean the Paths of Materialism, Instability, Greed, and Vice, respectively."

"They taught you all of that in Sunday school?" Milly asked.

Leila shook her head. "It reminds me of the attributes of the Sefirot in Kabbalah, but inverted...the Qliphoth."

"And here I thought you were going to say the Seven Deadly Sins," Milly frowned.

Lelouch thought that he would take Leila's word for it. The finer points of Jewish mysticism, or religious doctrine in general, had never been something he had much interest in, though perhaps it would be worth speaking more about it with her if it related to Mementos.

"Either way, it certainly is getting creepier there further we go down," Euphemia said.

Euphy was right. As they descended to begin navigating the Path of Akzeriyyuth proper, their surroundings took on an eerie purple. A pink mist was kicked up by their Knightmare's landspinners, something that had always been there, but it was now far more noticeable. In spite of its color and insubstantial nature, Lelouch couldn't help but be reminded of blood. And the walls... they were growing more... organic... Pulsing red veins stretched along their lengths, and now there were bone-like protrusions sticking out of the ground and flanking the tracks in some areas, seeming like the ribs of some unknowable creature, all while trains passed by on parallel tracks from time to time, ferrying more shadowy passengers into the depths, producing rushes of wind that sounded like breathing. It was like something out of a bad dream, and Lelouch couldn't help but be silently impressed that their newest member hadn't let the disturbing scenery unnerve her.

"More Shadows ahead," Leila said telepathically.

"Leave this to me, Zero," Kallen radioed, revving up her Knightmare and ramming the Shadow in front of them, which burst into individual combat forms. The other Black Knights quickly joined her on foot. There were now five smaller Shadows before them, the ghoulish demons with feelers instead of eyes and too many teeth that they had seen in Shirley's Palace, still stunned by the impact of Kallen's red Burai. Shirley continued to impress him by wasting no time in confronting them.

"Maid Marian!" she called out, pulling off her mask as her long copper-red hair flowed behind her in the wind produced by the appearance of her Persona. "Makouha!" Blessed light struck four of the Shadows, which seemed to wither in its brilliance, and narrowly missed the fifth.

"Your turn, Zero!" she called out, high-fiving him as she performed a Baton Pass, a skill that she had picked up almost immediately, undoubtedly because of the bond that they already shared. But it was more than that. Shirley's Persona wasn't as powerful as Guren Jigoku was, and nor did it display the same incredible rate of growth, so it was unlikely to ever overtake Kallen's Persona in terms of raw power, but it had started out far stronger upon awakening. Indeed, Maid Marian surpassed any of the Black Knights' Personas in terms of initial power, and she was almost at their level of combat ability already, in spite of having very little experience. Could it be that Shirley's deep acceptance of her own flaws had produced an exceptionally strong Persona? Then again, Tsu had said that Shirley had "a remarkably high base level of ability as a Persona-user", so it was likely that the potential had been hidden within her all along.

"Right!" he called back, before the opportunity to strike could slip away. "Isis!" A burst of flame knocked the last Shadow to its knees. "Commence an all-out attack!"

Shirley showed no hesitation in joining the others in the brawl as they pummeled the helpless Shadows. The words of her Shadow echoed in his mind. "I'll kill anyone who would harm my Lulu!" That gentle Shirley could accept that such murderous impulses were a part of her made her frightening in battle. She had enough self-control to avoid being possessed by her own Shadow, as previous Palace Rulers had been, and he was certain that she would only commit violence against another human being under duress... But these Shadows were clearly inhuman, and Shirley seemed an angel of death as she struck them down.

As they continued along the Path of Akzeriyyuth, Lelouch couldn't help but notice that Kallen was fighting with renewed vigor, ripping into formations of enemy Shadows with ever-increasing levels of brutality. At the same time, she showed new levels of coordination with him, creating opportunities that he could exploit before promptly performing Baton Passes to him, and exploiting the opportunities that he created in turn. She seemed as eager to prove herself as Shirley did.

And then he understood. Consciously or not, Kallen and Shirley were competing with each other. Kallen didn't want to be outdone by a newcomer and her rival, while Shirley wanted to show him that she could be as valuable a member of the Black Knights as Kallen.

Both girls had greater physical prowess than the other Black Knights, and mixed magic into their fighting styles. Kallen was a bruiser would would charge into the midst of the enemy, annihilating them with Guren Jigoku's nuclear fury. Shirley skirted the edges of enemy formations, as her Persona lacked the endurance as Guren Jigoku, but her movements were like that of a dancer, finishing off enemies with surgical strikes of her sword after Maid Marian had weakened them from range, bombarding the Shadows with arrows or holy light. He realized now that Shirley's sword was an estoc, superficially similar to a rapier, also a thrusting weapon, but designed to penetrate armor, making it far more deadly. When an enemy got too close, Shirley would perform a backward flip, in an impressive display of gymnastic ability, though he supposed that it wasn't unusual for Ashford's star swimmer to have some background in gymnastics, and like all of them, her Persona made feats of strength and agility exceeding anything she could do in the real world possible. Not to be outdone, Kallen pushed back Shadows with an acrobatic kick. Kallen couldn't match Shirley in terms of support, as Shirley quickly demonstrated the ability to cure various unusual conditions, in addition to dispelling enhancements upon the enemy and impairments upon her allies. But Kallen and Guren Jigoku were able to withstand an enormous amount of punishment, indirectly protecting her allies as she kept the Shadows busy, and occasionally cast a spell that increased everyone's offensive abilities.

But as he continued to watch them, Lelouch noticed that something else was happening. It was subtle, but Kallen started incorporating elements of Shirley's fighting style into her own, becoming more efficient as she did so, and as Shirley grew more confident in her ability to fight, she became more aggressive and daring, pushing further into the fray, as if in imitation of Kallen. It was as if Kallen and Shirley were slowly synchronizing with each other, no longer so much competing against each other, but following each other's lead, becoming two halves of a dance that ended only in death for any Shadows unlucky enough to be standing between them. Any Shadows that dared to threaten Lelouch met an especially swift and violent demise at their hands. Even Milly could only look on in amazement.

"You know, you're actually pretty good," Kallen told Shirley as they reached the platform at the bottom of Akzeriyyuth. "For a newbie, anyway."

"You think so?" Shirley asked, aglow from exertion. "I felt like I could barely keep up with you."

"Anyone would be hard-pressed to keep up with Queen," Lelouch told her. "That you were even able to do so at all, especially on your first real trip into Mementos, is something you should be proud of, Dame."

Shirley smiled. "Thank you, Zero. I'm glad I didn't embarrass myself in front of you."

Kallen looked like she was going to say something, but she thought better of it, and remained silent.

"Well, we've reached the next barrier," Arthur said. "Let's check it out."

The barrier was just like all of the others before it, but it refused to budge as they approached.

"Aw..." Milly pouted. "You'd think with how much of a buzz we created we'd be able to keep going."

"It's just that, a buzz," Leila said. "It's not enough to get us any deeper in their consciousness for now, unless we back up our leader's' claims with another high-profile change of heart."

"I think we're all getting pretty tired," Euphemia said. "Even if we could go further, it would probably be best for all of us to rest first."

Lelouch nodded.

"Let us know when you find a suitable candidate for our next target," Leila told him. "And remember," she said, ostensibly speaking more for Shirley's benefit now, though her tone contained an implied warning, "the choice has to be unanimous."

"I will," he replied.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 33.2%**

xXx

"The Prime Minister, Second Prince Schneizel, has wrapped up preliminary negotiations with the representative of the Chinese Federation here in Area 11, Consul-General Gao Hai," the news reported. "It showed a picture of an effeminate looking, pale-skinned man with markings painted on his face, contrasted with that of Prince Schneizel, whom most Britannians considered to be quite handsome. Lelouch suspected that the picture of the Chinese Consul-General might have been subtly edited to make him look even worse in comparison. Britannian racism could be truly petty at times.

"Gao Hai is one of eight High Eunuchs who advise the Empress of the Chinese Federation and are empowered to act on her behalf during her minority," the broadcast continued. "If approved by the other High Eunuchs in the Chinese Federation's capital of Luoyang, Prince Schneizel's deal would mark an unprecedented alliance between the two superpowers that could redefine global politics, joining the Imperial Family of Britannia to that of China..."

Suddenly, the broadcast had Lelouch's full attention. If a Britannian prince were to marry the Empress of China, then nearly half of the world's population would effectively fall under Britannia's dominion overnight. There was no way that he could let such an alliance come to pass.

But what if one of the parties involved had a change of heart?

He could rule out Schneizel. As far as he knew, Schneizel did not have such a strong connection to Area 11 that they could reasonably expect to find his Palace there. Finding the Emperor's Palace on Kamine Island had already been a fluke as it was. He would have to sabotage the proceedings on the side of the Chinese Federation. But the High Eunuchs in Luoyang were also untouchable, as he had no way of traveling there without arousing suspicion. That left only one possible option, Gao Hai. It could be reasonably assumed that Gao Hai's Palace, if he had one, would be located at the Chinese Federation Consulate, which was conveniently enough near the site where Babel Tower had been under construction.

Actually, Lelouch didn't have to assume at all.

"Gao Hai, Chinese Federation Consulate."

The Metnav returned the familiar prompt for the last keyword, along with the warning that Gao Hai's Palace was not currently within Navigation range, and that he would need to be closer to enter it.

Gao Hai had a Palace. Excellent. Turning on his laptop, Lelouch began to research Gao Hai, searching for the keyword describing the Distortion and preparing his case for targeting the High Eunuch to the other Black Knights.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 34.4%**

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter went pretty smoothly, with relatively minor edits. Normally, Gao Hai and the arranged marriage plot would have appeared after Code Geass' time skip. However, the parallel between it and Persona 5's fifth Palace was too much for me to ignore, and the High Eunuchs, Gao Hai included, really are perfect as Palace rulers, so I moved things up accordingly. That said, Gao Hai's Palace is NOT going to be a spaceport. It also occurs to me we're considerably ahead of schedule as far as the fifth Palace is concerned. In P5, the fifth Palace started in mid-September and went into October, but we're now around the start of August in this story. However, any diplomatic agreement of this scale will take time to finalize, as well as organizing and throwing a wedding celebration grand enough for such a momentous occasion, so I think we can have a rather generous deadline, which the Black Knights may very well need, for reasons which will become clear soon.**

 **Edit: It was pointed out to me that Lelouch has used the Ganymede on occasion for school events, so made some minor edits to the appropriate part of the** **chapter.**

 **As a further edit, finding some stats on the populations of the superpowers, Britannia's population in the first season is given as 540 million, Europia's as 940 million, and the Chinese Federation's population as about 1.57 billion one year later, which means that it accounts for about half of the global population, rather than a third. Remember, Code Geass's 2017 a.t.b. corresponds to an alternate 1963, so even with their more advanced technology thanks to sakuradite, the population has not yet gotten quite as large as our world today.**


	50. The Gate of the Forbidden City

"Gao Hai, Consul General of the Chinese Federation to Area 11, and one of eight High Eunuchs, who are the de facto rulers of the Chinese Federation." Lelouch passed around a pair of pictures, one of Gao Hai, the other of the High Eunuchs together, to his fellow Black Knights, gathered at the entrance to Mementos. "Originally advisors and heads of China's imperial bureaucracy, the current Empress' parents died when she was too young to rule, and so they assumed full power over the Chinese Federation in her name."

"It wouldn't be the first time eunuchs have risen to power in China," Milly said. "You just need to look at the Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

Lelouch took out a map and pointed to a dot on it. "They live in opulence in the Vermilion Forbidden City, at heart of their capital of Luoyang, near where the Luo River meets the Yellow River. In the meantime, the common people of China live in perpetual and often abject poverty." He swept his hand across the map. "Their rule extends north to Mongolia, south to Burma and Cambodia, and west to India, which is currently under military occupation and a hotbed of movements seeking independence from the Chinese Federation."

"As things stand," Lelouch continued, "the three superpowers have maintained a relative state of equilibirum. Of them, Britannia has held the upper hand for the last seven years, ever since it took over Japan and gained control of most of the world's sakuradite reserves with it, which it could cut off to either of its rivals at any time, though it has thus far refrained from doing so, as that would only be seen as the prelude to a full-scale war between them. Britannia controls a third of the world, but actually has the smallest population of the three superpowers, and benefits mainly from its strong martial traditions and technological superiority, as well as two of the most talented leaders in recent times, Second Prince Schneizel and Third Princess Cornelia." Kallen grumbled at this this, but he responded, "It's true. Cornelia is known as the Goddess of Victory or the Witch of Britannia for a reason, and Schneizel is no less dangerous. If anything, he's more dangerous, for his skill both as a diplomat and as a strategist."

Leila nodded. "Clovis spoke highly of Schneizel's skill at chess, and I met him in person once, while attending the state funeral in Pendragon. His intelligence was clear even then, and..." she faltered. "It felt like he could see right through me."

Resuming his presentation, Lelouch said, "Europia is the largest of the superpowers in terms of territory, controlling all of Europe, Africa, and Russia, and is home to 940 million to Britannia's 540 million, but is currently paralyzed by indecisive leadership and partisan gridlock. As for the Chinese Federation, it is smallest of the superpowers, but by far the most densely populated, with 1.57 billion living under its rule. If the treaty that Gao Hai and Prince Schneizel have negotiated together comes into effect, joining the Chinese Federation and Britannia by the marriage of their Empress Tianzi to Crown Prince Odysseus eu Britannia, the combined state would control over two thirds of the planet's population. No other power would be able to stand up against their joint military and economic power for long, assuring their eventual domination of the entire world."

"Talk about raising the stakes," Milly said. "That's a lot to take in."

"Um, there's one thing I don't get about this, Zero," Shirley said, frowning.

"What is it, Dame?"

"I thought the Chinese Federation was supposed to be communist. When Prince Clovis died, and we had to watch his state funeral, didn't the Emperor criticize them for their 'equal distribution of wealth'? And that's what all of our textbooks say too. But they have an Empress, courtiers, and from what you just told us, it sounds like their distribution of wealth is even more unequal than Britannia's. I mean, I know that a lot of people are hungry in the ghettos, and we treat Numbers horribly in general, and nothing excuses that. Yet the average Britannian, even commoners, enjoys a high standard of living. But they're starving their own people!"

"First mistake," Kallen interjected, "never trust Britannian textbooks. Don't tell me you actually believed all that crap in them. They get the most basic things about history wrong, and it's on purpose. You have no idea how reading those books makes me feel like I'm losing brain cells by the second, do you? Yet I have to force it all down anyway because no one minds sickly Kallen Stadtfeld's absences when she's consistently near the top of her class."

"My father is hardly an impartial source of information either," Lelouch added. He frowned. "But I have to admit, what he said isn't entirely false either."

"What do you mean?" Shirley asked, looking confused.

"The Chinese Federation's distribution of wealth _is_ for the most part equal, in the sense that almost everyone who isn't the High Eunuchs or in a small circle of their supporters is equally poor. Everyone who does the same job is paid the same, on paper at least, though it's usually barely enough for them to get by. That of course doesn't account for rampant corruption or the black markets that have sprung up everywhere, allowing a few to have a much higher income than their positions would officially suggest. Everyone nominally works for the benefit of the Federation as a whole, but their whole system has become the world's most extreme plutocracy." He shook his head. "No, 'kleptocracy' is a better term. Still, the people of the Chinese Federation aren't 'lazy dullards', no matter what my father says. If they fail to meet their quotas, which are ever rising, the reprisals ordered by the High Eunuchs can be severe. They're doing their best simply to survive."

"I see," Shirley said softly. "That still doesn't explain why they have an Empress though."

"Officially, the Empress is the living symbol of the Chinese Federation," Leila explained, "and consequently the office was retained for its prestige, religious significance, and to represent the heritage of the Chinese people. The position itself became largely ceremonial, even before High Eunuchs assumed complete control of the state. The name Tianzi is in fact a title, meaning the 'Son of Heaven', though it can be considered more loosely as the 'Child of Heaven'. Does that help?"

"Yes, it does," Shirley nodded.

"Well, I have to agree that they're at least as bad as the Black King," Euphemia said. She frowned. "No, they're far worse. At least the Black King didn't rule an entire country."

"They sound like they're all rats to me," Arthur snarled. "I have no objections if you want to change one of their hearts."

"But will changing Gao Hai's heart solve anything?" Euphemia asked worriedly. "Even if we change his heart, there are seven other High Eunuchs, whose hearts will be just as distorted as before. They might strip him of his position, but they'll just disavow anything he confesses to that implicates them."

"It's a long shot," Lelouch admitted. "But I don't see any other way of stopping this alliance from happening. I'm not so naive to hope that simply by discrediting Gao Hai, we can make the agreement fall apart."

"Then what is your plan, brother?"

"The disavowal of the High Eunuchs will mean nothing if the people of the Chinese Federation rise up against them. They've already mistreated their own people so badly that the entire nation is a powder keg waiting for the right spark to go off."

Euphemia gasped. "But... we've never caused an entire country to rise up before... A lot of innocent people are going to die if we do this, Zero. The High Eunuchs will probably think nothing of crushing an uprising, and will slaughter any protesters in droves! Do you realize that?"

"I do. But I can see no other option. As I've always said, you can't change the world without getting your hands dirty. Besides, we can be certain that even more innocents will die and suffer in all but slavery if Britannia allowed to reign supreme. And if a heist like this doesn't let us pass the next barrier in Mementos, then nothing will."

"How very cynical," Leila frowned. She shook her head sadly. "But I can't say that you're wrong. Of course, we have to put it to a vote... and it must be unanimous."

"Indeed," Lelouch replied. "All in favor?"

He saw Kallen and Arthur raise their hands (or in Arthur's case, his paw) immediately, followed by Leila, and then Shirley. Milly grimaced, evidently realizing just how deadly serious pursuing Gao Hai would be, and looked quite surprised that Shirley had voted in favor of the motion, but put up her hand slowly as well.

"He's exactly the sort of person we said we would bring justice to... I don't want people to be hurt... but the longer he goes without a change of heart... the cost of not acting will grow... If we turn away from this... what are we good for? We've come too far to turn back now." Milly's voice was strained with nervous laughter.

That left Euphemia.

"None of us will think less of you if you vote no," Lelouch told her. "That's your right as a fellow Black Knight. Any diplomatic agreement of this importance will take time to ratify, to say nothing of planning a suitable ceremony to mark the occasion. Though I can't think of one right now, we can still look for another way. We have time. This doesn't have to be our final decision either."

"I want to find another way..." Euphemia whispered. "Horrible as the High Eunuchs are... I don't want to have so many peoples' deaths on my conscience... But..." She steeled herself. "It's better that we start investigating Gao Hai's Palace as soon as we can, right? Just because we start looking around in there, doesn't mean we have to steal his heart right away. If we can think of another way in the meantime, we can still do that, right?"

"Of course, Noire," Lelouch told her.

"Then I vote yes," Euphemia said, but as much as he had offered his reassurance to her, there was a dreadful air of finality to it. "But if you thought Cornelia was mad after our video... Her wrath will be terrible if your plan succeeds, Zero. Schneizel or our father will demand that she end the threat to the Empire once and for all, and she won't rest until all of us are killed or captured."

"Yes..." Lelouch nodded solemnly. "So it's unanimous then."

No one raised further objections.

"We'll need to determine the keywords to enter his Palace," Leila said.

"There's no need," Lelouch replied, holding out the Metaverse Navigator. "His keywords were surprisingly easy to deduce."

"Gao Hai. Chinese Federation Consulate. Forbidden City," Leila read. "You didn't happen to sneak in there without us again, did you?"

Lelouch shook his head. "After how you all gave me an earful last time? Of course not. But just as the Vermilion Forbidden City is the home of the Empress and the seat of the Chinese Federation's power, Gao Hai sees his consulate as the seat of his own power, which he reigns supreme over, away from the scheming of his fellow High Eunuchs. The consulate itself is a walled compound, much like the actual Vermilion Forbidden City, so its easy to see how his Cognition could distort it into something of a much grander scale."

"We have a way in," Kallen said. "What are we waiting for?"

xXx

"The whole place looks like a fortress," Milly murmured, as the Black Knights observed the consulate from the nearest observation platform that they could find, conducting preliminary reconnaissance of the Palace's real-world equivalent before re-entering the Metaverse. It was ringed on all sides by a red wall, the only entrances commanded by large gatehouses with gray roofs in the Chinese style. Beyond the gatehouses, there was a large plaza on each side, flanked by ancillary structures along their axes. There was only one approach to the main compound, which was on an embankment surrounded by a wide moat, on each side of the plaza. A pair of causeways stretched across the moat, perpendicular to the approaches to the main compound, each connecting to smaller buildings with white walls, red roofs, and a square open-air courtyard, which were also surrounded by their own smaller moats. As for the main compound itself, its red walls dwarfed the outer walls, and it was protected by a guard tower at each corner.

"If the real consulate is so well-defended, I can only imagine how tight the security around the Palace will be," Arthur frowned.

"You're not having second thoughts, are you?" Kallen asked.

"Of course not."

"What about you?" she asked, turning to Shirley.

"My choice was made from the moment I joined the Black Knights," she replied.

Lelouch took out his phone and activated the Metaverse Navigator.

"Destination confirmed," the app announced. "Forbidden City of Greed. Beginning navigation."

The world twisted around them, pulling them into the High Eunuch's distorted Cognition. Where they stood on the observation platform was far enough outside the Palace proper that their clothes did not change into their thief suits immediately. But that hardly registered as they took in the sight of the Forbidden City of Greed.

"No way..." Shirley gasped. She had been in her own Palace and Mementos before, but she hadn't been in any state to properly appreciate the scale of the former, while the fact that Mementos was underground prevented anyone from getting a feel for how big it really was. But Gao Hai's Palace utterly dwarfed her Palace. Even the Black King's Resort of Gluttony could have easily fit within it several times over, for the Chinese Federation Consulate had stretched wide in all directions, no longer merely a compound but a walled city in its own right. There were still plazas, but now there were entire districts, geometrically arranged, criss-crossed by alleys and avenues, and the moat had become a network of canals radiating from the central compound, which was now at least as large as the real-world consulate had been in its entirety. Yet instead of the red color scheme that had dominated the consulate, the central parts of the Palace and the outer walls were glittering gold.

"To create such a large Palace..." Euphemia whispered. "Just how twisted is his heart?"

"And I thought it looked imposing before," Milly frowned. "How are we going to get in?" She looked up after a moment. "Can we use that trick from when we were escaping the collapse of the Black King's Palace?"

"Do you mean flying?" Kallen asked. "Our Personas can't stay continuously materialized for long. We'd have to land before we even got to the central Palace compound, or risk falling to our deaths."

"Even if we could fly all the way in, it wouldn't work," Lelouch said. "We'd be spotted over the city almost immediately, and the Palace would then be put on high alert, frustrating any attempt at infiltration."

"We're too far away for me to be able to analyze the Palace's outer defenses in detail, let alone find a weak spot in them for us to exploit," Leila spoke up. "We need to get closer."

"Just not so close that the guards identify us as being suspicious," Arthur added.

"Of course."

xXx

Lelouch was surprised by how close they were able to get to the Palace, all without their thief suits appearing. Evidently, Gao Hai saw them as beneath his notice, little more than harmless tourists who might occasionally pose to take photos outside of his consulate... for now. Recalling what he had read about protocol at the actual Vermilion Forbidden City, only those who received an invitation from certain high-ranking officials, the High Eunuchs themselves included, were allowed to enter. He suspected that as soon as they actually attempted to enter Forbidden City of Greed without such an invitation, Gao Hai's Cognition would mark them as intruders and hence threats, causing their clothes to change.

Still, that left them with a problem. Even after spending a considerable amount of time searching, they had yet to find a viable means of entering the Forbidden City of Greed proper. Milly had suggested that they might be able to find a large sewer grate, just as they had been able to infiltrate Clovis' Palace through its oversized ventilation system, but it was to no avail. They quickly discovered that the Palace instead used a multitude of gargoyles near the bottoms of its walls, carved in the shape of dragons, to drain its wastewater, and the holes from which the dirty water flowed were far too small for any of them, even Arthur, to crawl through.

"There has to be a way in," Arthur sighed.

"We have to come up with one soon," Kallen said, eying the battlements of the outer wall warily. Cognitions in the shape of terracotta soldiers could be seen on patrol, and there were floating, sinuous shapes behind them. "They'll be bound to notice if we keep pacing back and forth in front of the city for too much longer."

"If Gao Hai has Cognitions of the soldiers, then wouldn't he have Cognitions of the serving staff as well?" Lelouch asked.

"Zero... you're not suggesting... doing _that_ again?" Kallen, suddenly seeming much warier of him than the soldiers.

Shirley only looked confused at why Kallen had become so defensive.

"You weren't with us on any previous heist, so you wouldn't know," Milly explained with a mischievous smile. "The first time we tried sneaking into the Palace before yours, Zero had all of us girls dress up in bunny suits."

"Huh?"

"It was the uniform of the female waiting staff. Don't blame me for it; those outfits were all products of the Black King's Cognition. For the record, I dressed myself accordingly as a valet."

"As if that's at all fair!" Kallen said, putting her hands on her hips. "At least your costume wasn't demeaning, Zero!"

"That's right!" Euphemia added quickly, her cheeks flushing.

"Aw, don't be like that, Queen!" Milly pouted. "You looked great! Dame here really missed out! I bet she would have looked really cute and sexy in one too!"

"Madam Pr- um... I mean... Diamond!" Shirley spluttered.

"In any case, all the servants within the real Vermilion Forbidden City are either female or lesser eunuchs," Leila said. "Arthur might be able to slip by unseen, but our leader is neither. They wouldn't let him through with us if we were to attempt such a ruse. Moreover, servants in the Forbidden City are very carefully selected. We can't just walk in, sign a few papers, and be accepted as part of the serving staff."

"The soldiers are male, aren't they?" Milly asked.

"They are shaped as such," Leila replied. "Whether the term is applicable to animated terracotta statues is another matter entirely. I fail to see how disguising ourselves as soldiers will help at all. Firstly-"

"Bishop, you misunderstand me," Milly sighed. "Most males, and especially soldiers, are the hot-blooded type. They see a pretty girl, and some of those higher brain functions shut down, while more primitive parts take over. They'll be eager to please her. If they see six pretty girls... then we're home free."

"There are only five of you," Lelouch started, but with sudden horror he realized what Milly meant. "No. You can't be serious!"

"Time to take one for the team, Zero!" Milly cackled wickedly.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 35.2%**

xXx

"I feel completely ridiculous," Lelouch grumbled as they gathered outside the Palace again three days later.

"Quit complaining, Zero," Kallen said. "It's about time you feel as ridiculous as the rest of us do in these outfits." She grimaced. "I can't believe we're doing this again. I'm not sure what's worse, this or those bunny girl costumes..."

"Hold still, Zero!" Shirley ordered. "It's not easy to attach these hair extensions properly if you're moving! Do you want to get into the Palace or not?"

Lelouch sighed. "You win, Dame." He glared at Milly. "Don't be getting any ideas of holding an event like this again at Ashford, Diamond."

"Who, me? I would never dream of it," Milly grinned. She was lying, of course. Milly loved events like this. The cross-dressing festival was a perennial favorite of hers.

"I'm sure Dame will make you look purr-fect," Arthur smirked.

"Was the pun really necessary, Tama? You're still on thin ice after you ratted us out at the onsen."

Arthur frowned. "And you aren't above such puns in turn. I already said I'm sorry for that."

"All done, Zero!" Shirley said, draping a long white veil over his hair so no one would be able to get close enough to notice the extensions from behind. She then stepped back to inspect her handiwork. "Wow, Zero... you're really pretty as a girl... well, dressed like one, anyway."

"Maybe you have more in common than your roommate than we all thought..." Milly teased.

"What? Diamond, I'm not like Sophie, I don't swing that way!" Shirley said, blushing furiously.

"But what if our darling Lulu was born a beautiful 'Luluko' instead?"

"That's-"

While Shirley was busy getting flustered, Lelouch silently appraised the girl's costumes. Reluctantly accepting Milly's suggestion, they had dressed themselves as dancers. Simply being or looking female wasn't enough to get them in the door; they needed an excuse as to why they would seek to enter the Forbidden City of Greed, and one that would show off enough of their charms to override the guards' better judgment. Diethard had found them tailors for high-quality costumes, who could be trusted not to talk, though the names or their clients nor the true purpose of the outfits was disclosed to them, simply sets of measurements and generous payments to see the costumes rushed to completion. In all likelihood, the tailors would simply assume that the costumes were for a party or nobles having some sort of tryst, which was good enough for them.

Something like this would never work if someone like Viceroy Cornelia was the Palace ruler, as she was known for demanding competence and keeping her men highly disciplined, but the High Eunuchs had not only created but thrived in a court filled with decadence and corruption. That Cognition extending to lax standards among Gao Hai's guards was the only reason why Milly's plan had a chance of succeeding at all, and Gao Hai certainly couldn't think very highly of his own men if they appeared as terracotta warriors instead of human soldiers.

Leila simply wore a reproduction of her thief suit, sans her mask, recycling the costume from the video that they had filmed with Diethard, as it already gave her the appearance of an elegant gypsy dancer. Lelouch had largely borrowed from Leila's look when it came to choosing a design for his disguise, vetoing Milly's suggestion that he wear something more revealing. It was enough of an indignity for him as it was to have to crossdress, and a revealing costume would not only heighten his embarrassment, but increase the chances of the guards noticing that he was in fact a man. The neckline of his dress did not plunge nearly as low as Leila's did, as his chest was of course flat, in stark contrast to Leila's buxom bustline. His dress also covered his shoulders, and upper arms, with only a small cut for a V-neck as a concession to Milly's demand, and was mostly violet and dark blue, in further contrast to Leila's red and pink. His design also added translucent fabric over his lower arms, and a small choker to hide his Adam's apple.

He noticed that his gaze was lingering on Leila longer than it should. Telling himself that it was because he was overanalyzing his costume next to hers, he glanced over to Milly instead. She had of course chosen a far more revealing costume for herself, a light blue bellydancer getup, though with the added pieces of sheer cloth that sheathed her arms and fell down between her legs and over her bottom, swirling around as she walked, it actually showed slightly less skin than her bikini on the summer trip.

Euphemia's costume was more elaborate, pink like her hair, with pale orange sleeves and close-fitting pants under a long, flowing skirt. It bared part of her midriff and her lower arms, but it covered the rest of her body. Her outfit was trimmed with golden tassels, and she accessorized with it a bracelet on each arm, a gossamer, shoulder-length veil, a simple pair of pendant earrings, and a tiara adorned by a single blue jewel.

Kallen wore a tight-fitting, midriff-bearing and backless white top, fasted with red ties and trimmed in gold, with a red sash tied just below her breasts, which flared out behind her to each side, falling down to her calves. She had a dangerously short black miniskirt with cutouts on the side, and from what he could see, she couldn't be wearing any more than a thong underneath. Drapes of white cloth, decorated with a red stripe and dangling violet cords, fell from Kallen's arms, and more cloth, changing from pink to white and adorned with red flower patterns, was fastened just below her knees. Kallen completed her look with open-toed red high heels, a small circlet, and had gathered some of her hair into a pair of short twintails, which were held in place by golden cords tied into ribbons. Kallen smirked a bit as she noticed him looking at her. As much as she complained about the outfit, she had clearly chosen it to capture his attention as much as that of the guards.

Shirley's look was far more conservative at a glance, a white kimono top with light pink trim, with a long yellow sash, a long purple skirt, hemmed with white, and a big red ribbon in back with floral with pink and gold floral designs that fell to her ankles, while her feet were clad in leather boots. But when viewed from the side, one could see that there were cutouts from her shoulders to the top of her thigh, held in place only by the sash and a few thin, crisscrossing pieces of white fabric, which also left little doubt that she was wearing a string bikini bottom under the skirt, yet she wore it without shame. Her sleeves, which hung as Kallen's did, were detached from the kimono, and like Euphemia, she had gathered her hair into a ponytail, which was held in place by a large hairpin, styled like a butterfly, with white flowers behind her ears on either side.

The stylistic similarities between Kallen and Shirley's outfits, distinctly Japanese with risqué twists to further their mission, left him with little doubt that the two of had planned them together, a development that left him rather puzzled. A part of Shirley had hated Kallen before they confronted her Shadow, and even then, the two had been rivals where he was concerned. Could they have really achieved such an understanding with each other after fighting together in Mementos? Was it Kallen's idea of a peace offering between them? Or had Shirley continued to take Tsu's reading to heart and approached Kallen first?

Lelouch realized that he was staring at the girls again. His mind wasn't polluted by the same lurid thoughts that Incubus would have once brought to the fore, tempting him to satisfy the carnal desires that he denied right then and there, but rather, it was a more wholesome, appreciative feeling. He felt strangely warm, his heart starting to race faster as a part of him realized how beautiful they all looked. But there was a wistfulness to it as well, filling him with longing. It had to be another of his Personas at work, and he had a feeling he knew which one was the culprit: Mermaid.

Mermaid seemed to shrink back a bit in fear as he turned his attention to her. She knew what had happened to Incubus. After all, she was part of him.

"I'm sorry," Mermaid said to him. "But I think you're feeling the same way right now that she does when she looks at you," she said, making a mental nod toward Shirley.

It was clear that Mermaid supported the idea of Shirley and himself as a couple, which meant that part of him yearned for that as well. But it was something he couldn't allow himself to consider, not yet, though for no fault of Shirley's own. He wouldn't break his promise to Kallen, or become his father. Still, he couldn't hate Mermaid, just as he could never hate Shirley.

"Just be sure not to distract me when we're in the Palace," Lelouch thought to Mermaid. His Persona understood, and receded into the back of his mind without protest, seeming relieved.

"Well, I think our leader has finished checking us out," Milly said with a small smile. "I'd ask him for his opinion, but we all know how that went over on the summer trip."

Lelouch ignored her. "Is everyone ready?"

The others nodded.

"Very well. Bishop," he said, turning to Leila.

"Yes, Zero?" she asked, ever professional in her manner in spite of Milly's antics.

"You are in command and will speak for the group when we're stopped and questioned. I won't be able to give any orders to you until we're past the gatehouse, since I'd just give us away if they heard my voice."

"Affirmative."

xXx

"Halt!" a gravelly, grating voice shouted from the top of one of the battlements, from one of the terracotta soldiers. Spotlights shone from nowhere at them, just like when they were detected in previous Palaces, but Lelouch sensed that the overall security level hadn't been raised just yet, and nor were Shadows converging on their location en masse, so they still had a chance.

"What is your business in the Huangdi's Forbidden City?" the terracotta soldier demanded.

At the head of their group, Leila performed a curtsy, a movement that seemed simple, but Lelouch knew it took practice to maintain proper balance and posture, which Leila did flawlessly. "We are but humble dancers, who have traveled far with dreams of performing at the Empress' wedding ceremony and for the Huangdi," Leila said, smoothly adapting the lines she had rehearsed to account for the Palace ruler's title, and using the accent that Milly had said was so alluring as if it were as natural as breathing to her. "It pains us that we lack any formal invitation into the Forbidden City, but we were hoping that we could at least perform here for the commanders of your garrison, and, should we win their approval, secure their invitation into the city proper."

Lelouch was glad that he had chosen Leila as their speaker. If it had been Milly, she might have overdone it, but Leila hit the right notes of humility, sincerity, and grace to fool the guards. It was all a carefully crafted deception, but as the daughter of a pair of spies, Leila had become by necessity a skilled actress, and once immersed in a role she rarely broke character. Kallen could act as well, but her more fiery nature meant that she was prone to letting parts of her true self out at times, and this operation demanded the utmost delicacy. Yet at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a bit irked as well, seeing Leila act so servile in front of the guards. She really was far more attractive when she wasn't trying to hide or intelligence or opinions, yet they looked at her like-

Lelouch tried to cut off that line of thought. He already had enough problems to worry about. Was it Isis making him feel that way, resonating with another aligned with the Priestess Arcana? Or was it-

"Do you think-" the terracotta soldier began, bringing his attention back to the infiltration, only to be cut off by another, more authoritative voice.

"What have we here?" Another terracotta soldier appeared, dressed as an officer, and cast an appraising gaze down at them. Recognizing his much higher rank as a representative of the Palace ruler, Leila promptly performed a kowtow, the traditional Chinese gesture of reverence and submission, kneeling and touching her forehead to the ground. The other Black Knights quickly followed her lead.

"It's rare for us to have visitors, much less foreigners of such beauty and manners," the officer said. "It would be a shame simply to turn you away after you have come so far. It's time we had some real entertainment here." He gave a signal, and the doors of the gatehouse slowly creaked open.

"Will it be an issue if our cat accompanies us?" Leila asked as they filed in, picking up Arthur and holding him in her arms. "We all love Tama dearly, and we couldn't bear to leave him behind."

"As long as it doesn't cause trouble. It can always be put to work catching mice while you're entertaining," one of the guards replied.

Arthur didn't say anything, but Lelouch thought he could see Arthur mouthing "Suckers" when the guards' backs were turned.

xXx

The disguised Black Knights were led to a large room within the gatehouse, its walls gilded like the rest of the Palace exterior, accented by red panels that ran perpendicular to each other. Three long tables, covered in red tablecloths, were arranged in a "U" shape, with large white curtains falling behind the central table, a high golden chair behind each place. The other officers of the garrison had already gathered there, an extravagant variety of traditional Chinese dishes laid out before them. In some respects, Lelouch was reminded of the Black King's Palace, but the officers here were not just mindlessly consuming the meal, as would suggest gluttony, even if most of them appeared somewhat on the heavy side. There was a more calculated malice at work here, ambition that yearned for ever greater wealth and power, hoarding it while others went without.

The officers did little to hide their lecherous stares as the Black Knights stood before them, though to their credit, none allowed themselves to flinch before the terracotta men. Leila led them in kowtowing again before the assembled officers, facing the garrison commander, who had the centermost seat, and when he bade her to speak she said, "We are honored to have been granted the chance to perform before you and your men. Your lord, the Huangdi, must truly be a munificent and mighty ruler if he is able to provide for such a magnificent feast to his most distinguished servants in the midst of famine. We can only aspire to being worthy of his notice, insignificant as we commoners are next to his incredible wisdom and your unbelievable bravery as noble warriors." Leila was so bright-eyed as she pretended to grovel before them, and careful not to let her words become tinged with her sarcasm, that Lelouch doubted that the officers realized that she was insulting them.

He resisted the urge to smirk. That was more like Leila, a display of her wit and rebellious spirit, however subtle.

"You speak well," the garrison commander said. "But let's see how well you can dance."

"Your wish is our command."

The Black Knights broke out into the routine that they had practiced together. It helped that most of them had at least some experience in dancing from their noble backgrounds, or otherwise enough athletic ability make up for any such shortcomings. Even with the aid of his Personas, Lelouch knew that he wouldn't be surpassing his teammates, and stuck to simpler routines, but he tried as best as he could, if only to avoid blowing their cover.

Still, he couldn't help but be impressed by how well it all came together. Kallen and Shirley's choreography played off each other beautifully, and he felt the same drive that they had shown fighting together in Mementos behind their every step. Milly knew all about being a tease, and she put that expertise to work as she gyrated back and forth. Technically, she wasn't the most skilled of the dancers, but she had plenty of eyes on her regardless. Euphemia maintained an air of elegance and majesty throughout her dance. As for Leila, she seemed nervous for a moment, but then she closed her eyes and threw herself into her dance, the coins on her sash and bracelets clinking in rhythm with her movements. She spun around, one foot on the ground as she looked down and arched her back slighty, raising one arm and holding the other down to form an "S" shape, while her long, pale blond hair swirled behind her. For a moment, it was as if he was seeing Leila in a new light, his heart traitorously skipping a beat.

Closing his own eyes, he forced such distractions from his mind, and continued on with his dance.

xXx

There was applause from around the table as they finished, and the officers demanded an encore. Nodding to her fellow Black Knights, Leila led them in another dance. That a second performance might be requested of them had not escaped their planning, and they were met with further applause.

"Splendid," the garrison commander said. He held up a piece of paper. "This is a letter that will grant you permission to enter the city... But there's something I must ask of you first."

"We are most grateful," Leila said, smiling. "What do you require of us?"

"Why not quit your careers as traveling dancers and stay with us? We can... appreciate such beautiful girls as yourself in ways that the Huangdi can't. You would make fine concubines."

"I'm afraid we must decline," Leila said softly, though her stance shifted slightly, signaling to the others that they should prepare for a fight.

"What makes you think that you have a choice?" the garrison commander asked, and they could hear terracotta soldiers moving behind them. "I must confess, I am also rather intrigued by your companion with the beautiful black hair... I'll be taking the opportunity to get to know her better, along with the rest of you."

Lelouch decided that the time for subterfuge was past. The letter had been written. If the garrison commander wouldn't give it to them, they would simply take it by force.

"You'll do no such thing," he declared.

"What?" the garrison commander gasped. "You're a man?!" He chuckled. "But it is a small matter... Now I'm even more interested in knowing who you really are."

"I'll tell you..." Lelouch replied. "We are the Black Knights!" Their costumes melted away, and were instantly replaced with their thief suits.

"Thieves! Seize them!" the garrison commander shouted. The terracotta soldiers charged, but were blasted back by strong gusts of wind from Master Cat, shattering against the walls. Ice conjured by Eilonwy forced open tiny cracks in the terracotta, dealing great damage to the soldiers, but they seemed impervious to Medea's flames. Maid Marian's arrows behaved more like bullets, blasting holes in them, though the soldiers kept coming, heedless of the damage they had taken unless their joints were taken out. Guren Jigoku vaporized a few more without difficulty. As the surviving soldiers closed in, Leila threw one that had tried to grapple her to the ground with aikido, causing it to break upon impact, while Lelouch summoned Mermaid, who knocked the stragglers down with small whirlwinds, leaving them susceptible to an all-out attack.

"How dare you defeat my men so easily!" the garrison commander snarled, revealing his true form, an angry-looking man with reddish skin, a mustache, and a topknot. He was dressed in golden armor with a white sash around his waist. He held a sword in one hand, and raised what looked like a miniature pagoda in the other.

"Bishamonten?" Kallen murmured. "Why is..."

"He originated from the Hindu god Kubera," Leila explained, "God of Wealth, and Lord of Criminals in earlier descriptions. He later became one of the Four Heavenly Kings, but..."

"Save it for later, Bishop!" Arthur warned. "Incoming!"

Crackling blue orbs of concentrated radiation spiraled down toward the Black Knights from above. Everyone but Kallen dove for cover, though when the orbs hit the ground the radiation exploded outward, preventing them from emerging completely unscathed. Kallen however was immune to the radiation's effects, thanks to Guren Jigoku, who was already moving to attack Bishamonten. Likely reasoning that Bishamonten would also be immune to his own spells, Kallen had Guren Jigoku attack physically, cutting into Bishamonten's armor with its rapidly vibrating blade. Bishamonten swung his own blade, and Guren Jigoku darted back before it could be struck, but then the Shadow conjured the same type of barrier that Alciel's minions had cast, which would reflect the force of the next non-magical attack back at his opponent.

"Damn!" Kallen snarled, remembering the painful experience.

Lelouch promptly summoned Shiki-Ouji and fired a single shot from his gun, a more powerful model he had acquired from Kirihara, at Bishamoten. The barrier sent his bullet flying back at him and shattered, but Shiki-Ouji intercepted it, stopping the bullet harmlessly.

"Queen, strengthen us and then resume the attack! Bishop, pinpoint its weakness! Everyone else, heal, regroup, and then start probing its defenses!"

"Right away, Zero!" Kallen called back. Guren Jigoku cast Matarukaja and then dived back into the fray. Shirley shouted "Kouga!" and struck Bishamonten with spears of light, but they only seemed to annoy the Heavenly King. She switched tactics to alternating between ranged attacks with Maid Marian and exploiting openings to move in and attack Bishamonten with thrusts of her estoc, which soon managed to punch through his plate armor and inflict significant damage upon him.

Bishamonten cast the barrier again, forcing both girls to momentarily relent in their assault, and followed up by raising the hand with the miniature pagoda high. Healing energy converged on him, and all of the injuries that they had just inflicted disappeared, while his plate armor repaired itself.

"That's not fair!" Shirley cried in frustration.

"Don't worry... I'll give him something to think about!" Milly called out. "Medea! Agilao!"

A burst of flame rained down on Bishamonten, but he merely absorbed it.

"Well, maybe not," Milly said sheepishly.

"Bishamonten is weak to ice," Leila said, announcing the results of her analysis. "In addition to absorbing fire and resisting bless spells, he is also resistant to curses."

"You mean I could have just nuked him this whole time?" Kallen asked.

"Noire!" Lelouch called.

"Eilonwy!" Euphemia called. Ice crystals formed around Bishamonten, staggering him with the sudden cold.

"Launch an all-out attack!" Lelouch ordered.

Bishamonten was heavily damaged by the all-out attack, but not finished off. It cast its nuclear spell, Mafreila, again, and Lelouch promptly switched his Persona to protect himself.

"Ariadne Picaro!"

Ariadne Picaro was a Persona that Tsu had offered to let him summon as part of the "special treatment" that she was now offering him, cryptically describing it as "A Persona from another story" if he was willing to "pay to win." Aligned with the Fortune Arcana, Ariadne Picaro was significantly stronger that the Personas he could currently create by fusion, even dangerously so. Shi cautioned him that a Persona that was too much stronger than its summoner ran the risk of overtaking the summoner's conscious mind, or going berserk and reverting to a Shadow, but his will was strong, and for now Ariadne Picaro served him. There were Personas in the Compendium that were even vastly more powerful than Ariadne Picaro, including Thanatos, the Greek god of Death, but the cost Tsu demanded for summoning such Personas was exorbitant, and Lelouch felt it unwise to risk calling something so far beyond his current abilities until he was sure that he had a good handle on Ariadne Picaro.

His new Persona appeared, a mechanical maiden in red and black, a caged mask crowned by spikes encircling its head. Long gray hair flowing behind it, and it held a red string, constantly contorting into labyrinthine shapes. Ariadne Picaro blocked Bishamoten's spell for him, and emerged unharmed.

Lelouch saw that Bishamonten was going to try to heal himself again while the other Black Knights were recovering. He couldn't allow that.

"Queen! Noire!"

At once, they knew what they had to do. Kallen rushed Bishamonten with Guren Jigoku, melting off the arm holding up the pagoda with a concentrated nuclear blast, interrupting his attempts to cast the spell. While Bishamonten was distracted, Euphemia cast Bufula again, freezing the Heavenly King in place. This time, there was no escape for him, and Bishamonten shattered under the force of the subsequent all-out attack, before dissolving into black wisps.

With Bishamonten's defeat, there was silence in the hall, which looked quite a bit worse for wear. Carpets were singed, and tables were overturned from the impacts of terracotta soldiers against them.

Leila closed her eyes, concentrating.

"The Palace ruler doesn't seem to to know exactly where we are, or what we're doing here," she reported after a moment. "His attention is focused on other things. But he seems to have sensed that something's wrong, and more Shadows are heading this way. We should withdraw for now. On the plus side, I think we've just wiped out the entire garrison here at the gatehouse."

"Won't they just come back?" Kallen asked.

"There will probably be at least some patrols of Shadows when we return," Leila admitted. "But as long as Gao Hai remains preoccupied with his deal with Schneizel and other preparations it's unlikely he will care enough to create more Cognitions of terracotta soliders here. He has enough Shadows under his command and a Palace that's large enough that he can still feel secure even if the outer line of defense is breached."

Shirley retrieved the letter, and handed it to Lelouch for safekeeping.

"We're still in our thief attire," Lelouch said. "His Cognition considers us intruders now."

"I think the letter will still work though," Leila replied. "It gives whoever bears it permission to use this gate to enter the city, and the gates, like everything else in the Metaverse, should work on that Cognition. Since the Palace ruler doesn't know that it was written for us, he's not going to countermand it anytime soon."

"I hope you're right, Bishop." He glanced away, suddenly feeling awkward around her. "Otherwise, we're back to square one on our infiltration."

xXx

"The leaders of the Chinese Federation have ratified the treaty of alliance with Britannia that was proposed by Prince Schneizel," the news announced. "The provisions of the treaty are scheduled to go fully into effect upon the marriage of the Chinese Empress Tianzi to Crown Prince Odysseus eu Britannia in Luoyang, which is scheduled to occur about four weeks from now. Advisors from Britannia will be working closely with the Chinese Federation in the meantime to ensure the security of this momentous occasion and prepare for the union of our two nations."

Four weeks... so that was their next deadline. No doubt Schneizel would have wanted to have the ceremony even sooner, anticipating the likelihood that the Black Knights might interfere, but the High Eunuchs would settle for nothing less than a lavish ceremony, and four weeks was already an astonishingly short time for such a far-reaching treaty to take effect in.

Still, four weeks was plenty of time for the Black Knights to act in. By the end of the month, they would have stolen Gao Hai's heart, and made him confess his crimes with his own mouth.

Lelouch grinned.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 36.3%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 28**

 **A/N:**

 **Chapter 50! Another milestone for this story! It's incredible to think we've already come this far in just under a year.**

 **As for the geography, Akito the Exiled introduced a "Euro Britannia" that controls significant parts of Russia, centered on St. Petersburg as a Britannian tributary state, but Russia is not shown as being part of Britannia in R1 of the original anime, and is shown in the same colors as Europia there. Therefore, I will simply consider Russia to be part of Europia in this story, and Euro Britannia a development that has not yet occurred in the timeline in which this story takes place.**

 **As for Ariadne Picaro, little does Lelouch realize he's summoned one of the DLC Personas from the original game. Overpowered as the DLC Personas can be at times, I thought they fit nicely within the idea of Shi and Tsu's special treatment, and I'm not going to be having him just summon them all at once, so it will be nice boost to him, but hardly curbstomping his foes. And they will be getting tougher...**

 **Edit: Meant to add this to the author's note earlier, but the population is so low because Code Geass takes place in the equivalent of our real-world 1963. In real history, there were 3.19 billion people on Earth in that year, which is comparable to the population of Code Geass' world.**


	51. Out of the Bottle

"Welcome once again to my Velvet Room, Trickster," the Prison Master said, his rictus the same as ever, a mockery of smile filled with malice. "I regret that I could not be present during your trip to Kamine Island. Urgent matters demanded my attention." Lelouch knew better than to ask Igor what these matters were, lest he provoke the murderous moods that the Prison Master was prone to when questioned. Even if he were to receive an answer from Igor, it would undoubtedly be a half-truth at best. "I trust that Shi and Tsu performed their duties satisfactorily in my absence."

Lelouch simply nodded. There was no need to give Igor specifics. Two could play at that game.

"Very well, Trickster," Igor continued to grin. "Frustrating as it is that you were unable to infiltrate your father's Palace, the fact remains that you were not yet ready for it, and elsewhere your rehabilitation has continued to proceed splendidly. You have been busy in Mementos, and now you plan a most ambitious heist, one that will test your abilities as a thief, yet remains within the realm of possibility."

Of course Igor knew that the Black Knights had penetrated deeper into Mementos. If his theories were correct, Igor was the ruler of Mementos and the guardian of its Treasure. That the Black Knights always changed into their thief suits upon entering Mementos meant that Igor recognized them as threats, yet curiously there never seemed to be any directed effort from the Shadows within to apprehend them, unlike in the other Palaces. The Reaper was a persistent threat, constantly searching for them, but it was also easily avoided. Perhaps it was because to take a more active role in keeping the Black Knights out of the Palace would be to give the game away, and they had no way of reaching the Treasure of the Public anyway while there were still barriers up. Moreover, as far as Igor knew, the Black Knights were only in Mementos to change the hearts of petty criminals and train themselves in preparation for their eventual confrontation with the Emperor. As long as the Prison Master believed that, he had no reason to resort to more aggressive measures, for their supposed aims aligned with his own.

"But I did not summon you here merely to chat, Trickster," Igor said. "There is another method of executing your Personas that I think you will find most useful for the trials ahead." He gave a nod to Tsu. "Bring out the electric chair."

"As you wish, Master," Tsu replied dutifully, not letting her contempt for 'the Nose' show through. She returned a short time later with Shi, carrying a blue chair with a tall back between them, with clamps on the arms and a collar waiting to be fastened at neck level. Above, there was a metal cap that could be lowered into place on the victim's head. Tsu then retrieved a small but heavy-looking generator, and connected it to the chair with long black wires.

"By executing Personas with the electric chair, you will be able to infuse their powers into various items," Igor explained. "Of course, not just any item can be the receptacle for a Persona's power. You will need an appropriate catalyst."

"Take this, Mr. Inmate," Shi said, reverting to her older form of address in Igor's presence. She handed over a fist-sized stone to Lelouch, its surface featureless and a deep black that made it seem more like a lump of darkness made tangible, eager to draw in light, than any naturally occurring rock.

"You should have these as well," Tsu added, producing several blank cards that nonetheless seemed to have a faint aura of mystical power around them. "You can use these to capture some of a Persona's essence during the execution and transfer it into another Persona later, granting it some of the abilities of the sacrificed Persona. It's more targeted in that way than the gallows."

Lelouch nodded. The gallows was a very time-efficient way to increase the power of an existing Persona, but unlike a normal fusion, he had no way of determining which abilities would be passed down from the sacrifice.

"You can even use these cards to let a Persona acquire abilities it otherwise never would be able to," Tsu continued. "The cards will be consumed once they are used, of course, so make sure that you are certain in your choices."

"Now, Trickster," the Prison Master commanded. "Choose a Persona to execute!"

Refusing Igor was not an option. Instead, he asked, as neutrally as possible, "Is there anything else I should know before I begin?"

"There is only sufficient power to execute one Persona on the electric chair each day," Igor replied.

It was typical of Igor, to omit crucial information unless specifically asked about it, just as the Prison Master had done when introducing him to the gallows. The restriction seemed arbitrary, and a part of him wanted to prove Igor wrong, but that would be suicide. As always, he had to follow the Prison Master's rules in the Velvet Room... at least for now.

"Might I suggest resummoning the Queen's Necklace from the Compendium and executing it on the electric chair?" Tsu asked. "It's useless to you as a combat Persona, Inmate. However, if you use the catalyst that my sister has provided, you should be able to force it into a tangible form." She smirked. "Who knows? It could be a good gift for one of the girls who fancy you, Inmate, and it contains significant power besides that may aid you as a sort of talisman in the Metaverse."

Lelouch ignored Tsu's jibe, and nodded. Tsu did seem to be trying to offer him what she thought was good advice, in her own way.

Once summoned from the Compendium for Tsu's usual fee, the demon possessing the Queen's Necklace was promptly thrust into a large velvet blue bag and strapped in place for its execution, with the black rock that Shi had given him placed nearby. Lelouch felt it acutely within himself as the Persona was electrocuted, clearly with a voltage far exceeding what was strictly necessary. But after a moment, the pain had subsided, and all that remained in the seat of the electric chair was the famed necklace itself, with double strands of diamonds, four smaller dangling strands shaped like tassels, and three arches of diamonds on the other side, each with a larger stone dangling from them. Flickering wisps of power swirled around it, residual from the execution. Shi retrieved the necklace, and handed it to him.

His eyes widened. At once, he knew that it wasn't the sort of thing that he could give as a gift, at least, not to be worn in the real world. It would immediately be interpreted as a strong gesture of courtship by anyone girl to whom he might give it to for such a purpose, which could get him in trouble if that girl was anyone but Kallen. And if Kallen were to wear it in public, people would either question how he had managed to give her a necklace that had been commissioned by King of France and had had nearly bankrupted the jewelers who made it, leading to investigations that he did not need, or otherwise assume that Kallen was to be the trophy wife of an incredibly wealthy older and higher ranking noble, which she would resent. It truly was something that could bring misfortune, but if it had mystical properties that they could exploit in the Metaverse, then his reasons for giving it to any of his teammates would become pragmatic, and something they could accept more easily.

The prison bell rang.

"We will speak again at the successful conclusion of your heist, Trickster," Igor called as the Velvet Room faded from his vision.

xXx

Lelouch awoke back in the real world, though the presence of the Queen's Necklace glittering by his bedside was proof that his dream of the Velvet Room was as real as ever.

He was used to the drill by now. It would be best to wait for a day or two before returning to Gao Hai's Palace so that its security level could fall, which once again left him with a decision of how to spend his time, which was another way of saying which of his confidants he would seek to deepen his bonds with. He could feel that several of them were getting close to a breakthrough. Diethard had moved from being an informant, to the administrator of a subversive pro-Black Knights website, and was now working directly with them in the real world, but the media man needed one last push. Lelouch suspected that Diethard was waiting for the Black Knights' story to culminate in societal upheaval, something that with any luck would be satisfied when they stole Gao Hai's heart. He could follow up with Milly about her arranged marriage to Earl Asplund, or Nina to see how he was doing in the aftermath of the summer trip. He couldn't help but notice that Nina had started to act differently around him ever since they had returned to Ashford Academy. He was curious as to what exactly had transpired between Shirley and Kallen. Then there was Leila. Strange as he had felt around her yesterday, there were questions he wanted to ask her about what she had said back in Akzeriyyuth, and there was the matter of whether she would be transferring to Ashford Academy or not.

Lelouch shook his head. He had to keep his endgame in mind. Everything depended on unlocking the barriers in Mementos and discerning its mysteries before Igor could realize how much of a threat he really was. With her knowledge of mysticism and other esoterica that he had never deemed relevant to his vendetta against Britannia until just a few months ago, Leila was an invaluable resource to him in a Metaverse that drew upon old myths and symbols. Moreover, her intelligence, even temper, and psychic abilities in the Metaverse had earned her a position as his de facto second-in-command, which he had acknowledged when he delegated his duties to her during the initial infiltration of the Forbidden City of Greed. It was imperative for the continued success of the Black Knights that he maintain an effective working relationship with the Countess. He couldn't let his confused feelings get in the way. He needed Leila's insights right now, though he promised himself that he would follow up with Shirley and the other members of the Student Council before long.

xXx

"I did not expect to have the pleasure of your company so soon, Lelouch," Leila said, smiling as she invited him into her mansion. "I was worried that after last time-"

"Did you really think that I would turn my back on you, Leila?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Of course not. That was silly of me."

"Shall we have a match?"

"I would like that," she nodded.

Leila began leading him to her study, giving him an impromptu tour of her home along the way. Something Lelouch did not expect to see was her parents' car collection.

"My father thought that he should have one, all to better play the part of typical Britannian nobles with more money than they knew what to do with, just like this castle," Leila explained. "But there's more to the story than that. As I mentioned before, my family used to hold the Earldom of Breisgau in Germany, where its wealth largely came from winemaking and orchards, a tradition it continued even after being forced to migrate to what would become the Britannian homeland. When we moved to Japan, my father bought the farmland around the Kōfu Basin in Yamanashi, on the northern side of Mount Fuji, which was known as the 'Kingdom of Fruits'. Today our family's corporation controls a third of wine production in Area 11, is the largest grower of fresh peaches, grapes and plums in the colony, and supplies forty percent of the mineral water that is bottled here thanks to the abundant springs in the region." Her eyes looked distant for a moment. "With my parents' deaths... I am the majority shareholder in that corporation, and I inherited my father's seat on the board."

Lelouch nodded. While Britannian nobles were still entitled to collect rent from those living on the lands that the crown had granted them, a relic of the old feudal system, and stagnant in many areas, one area that they had evolved with was the economy. There had been a brief period at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution where the emerging middle class had led the way in founding the first true corporations, but when the nation was reborn in the Americas following Washington's Rebellion and Napoleon's conquests, the nobility had consolidated their control over society, buying out the largest companies or acquiring them through arranged marriages. To this day, most of Britannia's leading corporations had one or more nobles seated on their board of directors, or as majority shareholders, and these positions were usually hereditary as well, a neo-feudal system at its core. As the surviving Breisgau heiress, it was natural that Leila would have substantial corporate holdings, especially considering how fancy her home was.

"It's all rather overwhelming, to be honest," Leila frowned, "especially between that business with Prince Clovis and our work as Black Knights. I don't know how my parents managed it all. There are some in the company who say that my parents were far too generous and that we should be increasing our profit margins... but I've been able to use my influence to hold them back for now. Most of our workers are Japanese, and they deserve to be treated and paid fairly for their labor... it's still not quite where I'd like it to be, but I do as much as I can for them without attracting undue suspicion to myself. Besides, happier workers are more productive workers, and you won't find the same quality of produce from companies that treat their employees as little more than slaves!"

Lelouch could see now how a place like the Amagi Inn was able to hold to its traditions in spite of Britannia's suppresion of Japanese culture. Inaba was in the Yamanashi area, and thus within the Breisgaus' sphere of influence. Lelouch chose not to ask, but there was even a chance that Leila might be its landlord these days. It would have to be her or a member of the Kyoto Group like Kirihara or, perhaps more likely considering her fondness of ryokan in general and in particular the Amagi Inn, Kaguya. But in any case, the Japanese people living in Yamanashi were fortunate that Leila was looking out for their welfare, as benign of a corporate overlord as they could ever hope to find, when one of Britannia's many robber barons could have easily come in had the Breisgaus not bought the land first.

"I'm sorry," Leila said, shaking her head. "Listen to me rambling on. The point is, while that's always been my family's traditional business, thought we should diversify. Besides its farmland, the region had a growing industrial base that was devastated during the war. I'm sure that my father thought that if we could reestablish it there, we could eventually gain contracts with the military, giving him access to a new source of information that he could pass on to Europia. But he also wanted to rejuvenate civilian industry and make products that the Japanese people could afford, cars among them, so that they'd have more freedom to travel."

"The only Japanese who would be able to afford cars are Honorary Britannians," Lelouch interrupted. "Even among them, cars are luxury items. Your father had good intentions, but that dream was doomed from the start."

"Yes," Leila admitted. "We never really had a chance to branch out into manufacturing. Kirihara Industries was already in the area, on the slopes of Mount Fuji, and first bought out the outlying sakuradite mines in Yamanashi. They already controlled most of Japan's surviving industrial infrastructure, and it didn't take them much longer to gather up what remained there and drive out any would-be competitors."

Lelouch grimaced. In a way, it was tragic. When it came down to it, Kirihara and the Breisgaus had been on the same side, and could have worked together, but both had been so cautious about concealing their true loyalties that cooperation between them had been impossible.

"You know, I could set up a meeting between you and Kirihara," Lelouch said. "He's more into heavy industry than consumer products, but I'm sure that he could connect you to other members of Kyoto, if you're interested in a joint venture with them."

"You would do that for me?"

"Of course."

"I would like that," she smiled gently. "Thank you, Lelouch." She shook her head. "My parents eventually suspected that there was more to Kirihara than 'the Traitor', but by then more pressing matters had come to their attention. Still, my father had already done plenty of research into different types of cars while searching for design concepts, and had gained something of an appreciation for them in the process. It seemed a shame for that to go to waste. Hence, this collection." She led him forward.

"I notice there are a number of foreign cars."

"Yes," Leila nodded. "My parents were Francophiles, and many of the cars in their collection reflect that preference, but my father also drew inspiration from German engineering, perhaps influenced by our heritage."

"Can you speak German, Leila?" Lelouch asked.

"Ja," she replied. She frowned. "I'm fluent in it, but my German isn't as good as my French. While member states of Europia largely retain their individual cultural identities, Napoleon's conquests ensured that the French language would be adopted for common use between nations, which I assume factored into my parent's decision in to prioritize my acquisition of it alongside Britannian."

"It's still impressive however you look at it. You're a native speaker of both French and Britannian, you're fluent in German, and likely Latin and Japanese too, the former from your education, and the latter from your own interest in Japanese culture. Adding to that, you know some Greek, and there aren't many in Britannia who know enough ancient Hebrew to translate those inscriptions in Mementos. Are there any other languages that you know?"

Leila beamed. "I've taught myself enough Mandarin to be able to hold simple conversations in it," Leila said after a moment, without any boastfulness in her voice. "It only made sense to do so with the world's third superpower on our doorstep. But of the languages that I speak with any degree of fluency, it's the one I'm weakest at. It's difficult without consistently having someone to model proper pronunciation and point out your mistakes. So I used Britannian the other day while introducing us to the guards, because I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of them, and I knew they would understand Britannian, given that they were Cognitions created by the Chinese Consul-General to Area 11. But that's it."

"It's more than I've learned," he told her, and she smiled again.

"There's plenty that you surpass me in," she replied, glancing down. "Boldness... your gift at drawing people together... your flair for the dramatic and ability to put on a performance... not to mention that you're a loving brother to your sisters."

"Two of them," he corrected. "And don't sell yourself short. Going into Clovis' Palace by yourself was reckless, but insulting the guards in Gao Hai's Palace like you did was not only bold, it was brilliant, and you managed to fool not only Clovis, but the media, and even those back in Pendragon with another of your performances."

"Still, the bond that you share with your siblings is something that I'll never have."

She paused in front of one of the cars, which stood apart from the more luxurious models on the floor. It was a van, low to the ground and only about six feet in height, with corrugated sides, mirrors mounted high on the driver and passenger side doors, and a loading door on the side. It seemed a very economical vehicle, intended for work rather than play.

"This is something like the car your father wanted to make for the Japanese people," Lelouch said.

"Yes," Leila replied sadly. "The Citroën H Van. It's a French model. He wanted to take the basic concept and update it with Britannian technology... a quieter, cleaner, more efficient and more reliable engine... new electrical frameworks suitable for a variety of commercial purposes, like catering or refrigeration... It still would have been too expensive for most Japanese people, but he thought that if the vehicle could 'earn its keep', so to speak, it would be able to help some of them get back on their feet."

"And there's something to be said about the audacity of selling what would essentially be a retooled French car to the common people of a Britannian colony," Lelouch grinned.

"You know, for some time, I thought something like this would be perfect for moving around Mementos," Leila mused. "But I couldn't think of a way to sneak it in without someone noticing on this side. It didn't even occur to that we could change the public's Cognition so easily to produce a means of transportation already in there for us." She shook her head. "Even if I had, I doubt that our video would have gotten the same response if all viewers saw was a humble van. I also considered motorcycles, but that ran into the problem of getting them into Mementos." She looked up. "I do ride, from time to time." She blushed slightly. "Would you... like to see my bike?"

He nodded. "I'd love to, Leila."

She led him to it, passing a number of other motorcycles along the way, but calling Lelia's motorcycle a mere "bike" was a clear misnomer. Her machine was a red monster, almost three meters in length, and its back wheel over a meter high. Its engine was just as huge, and Lelouch could tell that it was engineered with state of the art steering and balance systems to help its rider tame all of its power.

"I must say, I didn't ever picture you riding a machine quite like this before, Leila," he said with a small grin.

"Because it clashes with my public image?" she challenged. "I'll be piloting a Knightmare in Mementos soon enough."

"I suppose so. You're always the analytical type." She was also the shortest of the Black Knights, save for Arthur, which made her seem even smaller and more fragile next to her machine. "That's something that Kallen would love to get her hands on. Just how powerful is that thing's engine? Rivalz would love it too, especially if he could hook up his sidecar."

"Even I need to cut loose every once in a while," she said. "It's not compatible with a sidecar. That would throw off its balance. But by itself, it's large enough to seat two-"

Leila cut herself off as her cheeks turned a much deeper shade of red. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to suggest that suggest that-"

"It's fine," he told her.

"Um, yes..." Leila agreed hastily, glanced away. "Well, my study's only a bit further," she continued after a moment. "Shall we be going?"

"Yes," he nodded.

xXx

"Ow!"

"I'm sorry," Leila said, picking up her cat. "Eliza likes to bite. She does it to everyone except me. I should have warned you."

The feline had black fur like Arthur, but of a uniform shade, except around the paws, which were white. As far as he could tell, Eliza couldn't talk like Arthur could, but the look in his green eyes told him that she was nonetheless quite intelligent for a cat, as befitted Leila's companion. As a noblewoman's pet, there was no doubt that Eliza was purebred, a further point of contrast with Arthur. They weren't exactly sure what breed Arthur was, if he belonged to a recognized breed at all. All things considered, Arthur was probably a crossbreed of some sort, making it seem oddly fitting that he had crossed paths with Kallen and her brother.

"I'm okay," he told her.

"That's a relief." She set Eliza down in her lap. "Let us begin."

Both of them were more defensive than usual in their match. Occasionally, they would probe the other's defenses and launch an offensive, only for a counteroffensive to materialize just as quickly, but neither could decisively turn the tide of battle.

"We'll be in a threefold repetition before long," Leila said, analyzing the board.

"Shall we call it a draw then?" Lelouch asked.

"I think that would be best," Leila nodded. She looked up. "What did you want to talk to me about, Lelouch? We both know you didn't just come to chat and play chess with me."

"You're knowledgable about ancient religious traditions in a way that I'm not," Lelouch explained. "There's a certain... project that I working on for social studies. It's a summer assignment. Do you know anything about mythological prisons, or deities related to them?"

Leila immediately seemed to grasp that there was more to what he was asking than was said, and that there was in fact no such assignment, but thankfully she did not press him for a more complete explanation.

"The most well-known examples of such prisons are probably Hell in the Abrahamic religions, or the Greek Tartarus, used to punish the wicked or those who had defied the gods" Leila replied. "But everyone's heard of those." She paused. "But there's actually a myth with a very different conception of a prison... Are you familiar with Gnosticism?"

"I know the basics, but I can't say I studied it much before."

"Then you know that Gnosticism was an offshoot of early Christianity, though it was eventually deemed heretical. The Gnostics believed that the material world was evil and that the spiritual world was all that was good. But it's more than that... the Earth and the entirety of cosmos that we can see was the flawed creation of a misbegotten false god, who was deluded into thinking that he was the one and true God, and unconsciously all of his creations were made in mockery of the true splendor and fullness of the divine. Unknown to this false god, humans carried within themselves fragments of the divine, bestowed upon them by his mother, Sophia, with the last of her fading power, the rest of which he had seized for himself. Through the attainment of gnosis, or knowledge of the true nature of the spiritual world above, humans could find freedom and transcend from the prison of the material that the false god held them in."

Fragments of the divine with them? Maybe he was reading too much into it, but that sounded awfully like how he was able to hold manifestations of various gods and demons within himself as Personas. And made in mockery? Tsu had said something very similar about the Metaverse...

"Leila..." he said quietly. "What was the name of this false god?"

"The Demiurge," Leila replied, lowering her volume to match his own. "Yaldabaoth."

"Thank you, Leila," he said. "I think that will be quite helpful for my report."

"I have every faith that you will do well on it," Leila told him. "I know it may be a bit late, but Milly told me you were in the top ten of your class in your exams before the break." She smiled approvingly. "Well done."

"I'm sure you're ranked at the very top of your class at St. Lucy's," Lelouch replied with a chuckle.

"I was, yes," Leila said, though simply as a statement of fact. "However, I've decided that I will be taking you up on your earlier offer. I will be formally transferring into Ashford Academy by mid-month."

"I guess I'll have to keep my grades up in the second trimester then," Lelouch chuckled, "lest I face your disapproval or Shirley's. She'd have a fit if I slack off now that she's seen what I'm actually capable of." He shook his head. "But in all seriousness, everyone would be delighted to have you join us on the Student Council, Leila."

"Thank you, Lelouch," she said, offering a beautiful smile. "I look forward to it."

Within himself, Lelouch felt the Priestess greatly grow in power. He knew Leila much better than he had before today.

"But while you're here, I really should offer you a refreshment," Leila said, reaching for something, causing Lelouch to instantly blanch. Seeing his reaction, she said, "No, I didn't prepare it myself. I know just how awful of a cook I am now... we can't infiltrate Gao Hai's Palace if I've incapacitated our leader with another serving of Mystery Food X." She shook her head. "The staff helped me make it. It's just tea, and I think you'll find it rather flavorful."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 36.1%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 27**

xXx

Lelouch had a bizzare dream that night. The Black Knights had detoured from Gao Hai's Palace to investigate a criminal in Mementos. For some reason, their Cognitive Burais were missing, but Arthur told them not to worry, and promptly turned into a black, talking Citroën H Van, complete with headlights colored like his eyes, cat ears, whiskers, and a tail, before telling them to climb in. Kallen took the wheel of the Arthurmobile, but turned out to be a surprisingly bad driver when not in Knightmare Frame. But perhaps that was because she let herself get distracted listening to the other girls talking about which of them would be marrying Lelouch, swerving back and forth as she entered a heated argument with them. Fortunately, she only ran into Shadows.

From there, the dream took a still stranger turn. The girls agreed to "share" him, and the scene abruptly changed. Lelouch found himself on a large bed, dressed only in his underwear as three of them began clambering onto the bed, Kallen dressed in her dancer outfit, Shirley in her bikini, and Leila in the black lingerie that the painting in Clovis' Palace had depicted her in.

"What are you-" he tried to ask.

"Relax, Zero," Kallen smiled. "We've done this before."

"This is my first time..." Shirley whispered.

"Then watch and learn, Dame."

"I shall do my best as well," Leila nodded.

They took turns, kissing and caressing him. Kallen knew what she wanted, fiery passion in her blue eyes, yet that belied tenderness. She was followed by Shirley, more hesitant at first, but quickly growing bolder, learning from Kallen just as she had in Mementos, her beautiful green eyes lighting up with joy as she embraced him. Then the Countess took her turn, leaning in, amethyst eyes filled with intelligence as her lips drew ever closer. They made contact with his own, soft and warm.

"This isn't-" he started as Leila's lips left his.

Leila silenced him, gently placing a finger on his lips. "Don't overthink it, Lelouch. Just enjoy yourself." Her voice was breathy and mellifluous as she effortlessly slipped into her French accent, dulcet tones in a rhythm that transformed even simple sentences into something that sounded like poetry.

He couldn't say that any of this was entirely unwelcome. He loved Kallen and Shirley, and the defenses he had put up to keep himself from getting too close to Leila were crumbling as well. They were all beautiful in their own ways, but he wasn't one who would be interested in them if all they had were their looks. Kallen's drive... Shirley's kindness... Leila's wit... They were precious gifts, and drew him inexorably toward their bearers.

He usually held his desires in check, but he didn't have to worry about Britannia or the Metaverse here. Why not indulge for a change?

His body seemed to move on its own as he returned each of the girls' affections, taking the lead from Kallen, running his fingers through Shirley's lustrous coppery hair as he shared a long kiss with her, and impulsively moving his fingers down Leila's back, searching for something. But a part of him felt that the whole situation was wrong.

Looking amused, Leila removed the blue gemstone necklace that Clovis had given her, and reached for something on the beside table.

"Is it okay if I wear this?" She whispered seductively, picking up the Queen's Necklace. "I'd much rather wear something you gave me." Finding himself weakly nodding, she slipped it on.

She looked stunning.

"I hope I'll get a chance to wear that next," Kallen said, eyeing Leila with jealousy that hadn't been there before. "After all, I am your Queen, Zero."

"Yeah! And me too!" Shirley piped up. "Fair is fair!"

"You'll both-" he began, fighting through the haze.

"Lelouch?!" a familiar voice gasped, carrying both question and accusation.

Nunnally was there, in her wheelchair, her eyes wide.

"I told you not to two-time brother! And yet now you're three-timing? How could you?"

Her hair turned blonde, as it when she became Nemo in the Metaverse, and she rose from her wheelchair. Her eyes turned golden as well, and when she spoke, she sounded as dangerous as any Shadow.

"Elizabeth!" Her Persona charged, and-

Lelouch finally bolted up from the nightmare. There an unfamiliar stickiness on his boxers, and his body was drenched in sweat. He had never had such a dream before, and it left him filled with confusion, embarrassment, and shame. His subconscious had really dreamed that up?

For a moment, he wondered if Leila's tea had triggered a hallucinogenic episode. She had, after all, been the creator of Mystery Food X. But he rejected that; the tea had been perfectly agreeable. No, there was another cause. He had forgotten in his panic upon first waking, but he recalled that he had visited the Velvet Room after seeing Leila, and fused a new Persona of the Devil Arcana, taking advantage of his rapidly growing bond with Diethard...

Lilim.

"Aw, I tried to give you a nice dream, but you had to go ahead and ruin it with your little sister showing up," the new Persona's voice said within himself, female and playful, but on the younger side, reminding him too much of Kaguya.

"Don't mess with my head, polluting it like that, unless you want to end up like Incubus before you!" Lelouch mentally snarled.

"Geez, you don't have to be a jerk about it!" Lillm pouted. "Don't forget I'm also you. I can't make you dream up anything that isn't already in your unconscious mind. Can't you just admit what you really want?"

"Be silent!"

Lillm wisely complied.

Lelouch sighed. He would rather not execute Lillm right away. There was still potential within her that he had yet to draw out, so getting rid of her would be wasteful for the time being. But there needed to be some sort of punishment lest she pull a stunt like this again. Perhaps he would throw Lillm in Lockdown for a few days, entrusting her to Tsu's tender care. She could benefit from some toughening up too, as in spite of a useful variety of spells, she was a rather fragile Persona, with not one but three weaknesses, offset by immunity to curses and a resistance to ice spells. Granted, his bond with Diethard had granted her the ability to dodge incoming bless spells more easily, but it was still a weakness.

Still, for Lilim to find that within his psyche... Did he really want a relationship like that with Kallen and Shirley, deep down? And for Leila to appear as well... He could no longer deny that he had more than a passing attraction to her on both a physical and an intellectual level. But they had already agreed that it was better for them to remain as friends. Even if Shirley and Kallen were to agree that there were willing to "share" him among each other, would they really be accepting of another girl? He didn't want to hurt any of them, and even thinking about it made him feel disgusted with himself. If what Lilim said was true, he was becoming more like his father with every passing day, no matter much he fought against it.

xXx

The next day, Lelouch was in the Student Council room with Kallen and Shirley. Classes hadn't officially resumed yet, but the Student Council had plenty of work to do to ensure that the upcoming trimester would be a success, and that their trips into Gao Hai's Palace wouldn't cause them to fall behind on their duties. Milly had the other members of the Student Council away on other tasks, sensing that he wanted the opportunity to talk to Kallen and Shirley in private.

"So, Bi- um, I mean Leila will be joining us on the Student Council," Shirley said softly. "That's what Madam President said anyway."

"That's correct," he replied, trying not to think about what they had done together in the dream that Lilim had conjured.

Kallen and Shirley both looked uneasy for a moment, but then Shirley was back to her usual self. "We'll all do our best to make her feel welcome!"

"Yeah..." Kallen murmured. She looked up. "Lelouch... there's something I've been meaning to say."

"What is it, Kallen?"

"You've probably noticed that Shirley and I have been talking to each other more lately."

He nodded. "Your outfits for the infiltration were a giveaway."

Both girls blushed slightly, but Kallen continued. "I... wanted to apologize to her... and I wanted to let you know too." She frowned. "I've been really petty lately... and jealous. Even though I knew exactly what she was going through... it was like I was rubbing salt in her wounds..."

"Kallen, you don't need to beat yourself up like that again," Shirley said comfortingly. "I mean, before I faced my own Shadow, my own jealousy whenever I saw Lulu around you or another girl was practically the butt of a joke. I was pretty pathetic, really."

Kallen sighed. "I was afraid of being cast aside... just like my mother was. But when I saw Shirley fight in Mementos, something funny happened. Not only was she just as committed to you as before, but she could keep up with any of us. In that moment... I really had to start viewing her as my equal. I couldn't hold any grudges against her any longer. It was just pointless. So I decided that I had to come clean with her."

"Kallen told me," Shirley said softly. "How she and I are alike... and how you felt about me."

"I'm sorry that I didn't let you tell her yourself," Kallen said, not meeting his gaze. "But Shirley and I needed to be able to speak freely about it if any real understanding was to be reached between us."

"Part of me had thought that Kallen was better for you," Shirley said. "But after accepting all of my flaws deep down, I had known I wouldn't be able to just give up on you, Lulu. I didn't have any right to force you to break up with Kallen though, no matter how much part of me had once resented her. But I had started wondering if there was another way, one in which we wouldn't have to fight each other. When that girl on the train read my future, what I had to do really came into perspective. So I threw everything into proving myself before you... both of you. And then Kallen told me that you loved me too."

"Shirley... what are you saying?" Lelouch asked, his voice trembling. Concerned that he might be in another dream brought about by Lilim, he pinched himself. It hurt, and there was none of the haze that had accompanied the dream. This was real.

"Anyways," Kallen said testily, "from now on, the two of us will be working together to keep you safe in the Metaverse. And..." She steeled herself. "If you want to be with Shirley too, I won't stand in the way." She spoke as if she was trying to get it out the words quickly as possible.

Lelouch was instantly suspicious. Kallen felt guilty, that much was clear. But for her to accept such an... unconventional relationship between him, herself, and Shirley? Was that really what she wanted? She seemed uncomfortable just talking about it. As for Shirley... was she willing to accept what could easily be seen as a 'lesser' position in his life next to Kallen, just so he could be with him at all? He didn't feel that Shirley was actually lesser in any way to Kallen in his heart, but to balance both of their needs equally would be perilous indeed.

"Kallen, are you sure about this?" he asked with worry. "There are a hundred different ways this could go very wrong, very fast! And what about you, Shirley?"

"Don't make me repeat it, Lelouch! I won't pretend that it was easy, but I made my decision! As long as it's just Shirley and I, and you aren't going behind ours backs and sleeping with other girls unless the two of us have-" Kallen froze, realizing exactly what she had said, and turned almost as red as her hair.

Shirley's cheeks were a bit red too. "Don't feel like we're forcing you into anything, Lulu," she said softly. "That's the last thing that I want. I'd rather that we take things slowly... really get to know each other first, so we don't have any regrets, Lulu. But when you're ready... I'll be waiting for you."

Lelouch was still wary of what they were suggesting, but he knew that neither Kallen nor Shirley could put aside their love for him. As long as he was with one but not the other, at least one of them would always be unhappy, however well they might hide it. If this worked, this could be a solution to their problems. He would have never considered it if he hadn't seen the speed with which the two of them had renewed their friendship, or knew the depth to which Kallen and Shirley could understand each other now. And then...

Lelouch grimaced. As much as he tried to deny it, he knew that he wanted to accept their offer. He had secretly desired it for a long time, but he had always held himself back for fear of becoming his father or hurting either of them more. But with Lilim's dream, he could no longer refute the mounting evidence. It wasn't healthy to repress it either. He had seen what had happened with Shirley and her Shadow.

"So... you really want... a... multi-partner relationship... a triad?" he asked. He shook his head. "There may be a hundred different ways for this to deeply hurt all of us... but just as many if we continue as we have been. If there's any chance for there to be a functional relationship between the three of us... we need to take it."

"Lulu!" Shirley smiled, overjoyed. Before he knew it, she was hugging him.

"Oh... wait..." Shirley said. She let go of him. "Sorry... I said we should take things slowly, but I got carried away."

Kallen shook her head slowly, but there was a hint of a smile on her face, and the tension that had gripped her seemed to melt away. That, more than anything was an encouraging sign. Kallen was actually happy for Shirley. She had probably been more embarrassed before than anything else.

Of course, none of this meant that his girl problems were over. It seemed that the situation between Shirley and Kallen had been defused, but there was still Leila, and his own growing attraction to her. He had no intention of betraying Shirley or Kallen's trust for Leila here in the real world, or the Metaverse for that matter, but Lilim and other Personas like her could still dredge up those feelings unbidden. As much as he might will otherwise, there was no sure way to avoid that other than executing or imprisoning the offending Personas. And if the others found out that he had accepted such a relationship with Kallen and Shirley... Would they think the gates were open for them as well?

He swallowed. It might be impossible to put this particular genie back in its bottle.

"Let's not tell the others about this," he told Kallen and Shirley. "Not yet."

They nodded.

"Too late!" a bubbly voice cried out, as Milly Ashford burt into the room.

"You were eavesdropping on us all along?" Lelouch asked, mortified.

"Well of course I was!" Milly grinned. "I knew what was up, and I wasn't going to miss anything as juicy as that! Way to go, Shirley! And you too, Kallen!"

"M-Madam President!" Shirley stammered. "That's not fair!"

"Yeah! Haven't you heard of privacy?" Kallen demanded.

"Relax..." Milly said. "It'll be fine!" She smirked. "But if you insist, I'll leave the three of you alone for a while..." She turned and left.

"Madam President... she heard everything..." Shirley murmured.

"It doesn't matter, Shirley," he told her. "It's not like you care about what other people think about us anymore. You had to have decided that with Kallen to suggest something like this, right?"

She nodded.

"Then there's no point worrying about it. Whether we've all just made a big mistake or not, we don't have time for regrets right now. Not when we have to steal that Treasure."

Both Kallen and Shirley signaled their agreement, and Lelouch felt the power of the Lovers grow.

"Then let's get started, and look toward the future together."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 35.9%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 26**

 **A/N:**

 **The section with Leila ended up being considerably longer than originally planned, but I think it was good to take the opportunity to flesh out her character and her family's history some more.**

 **As for the major development between Kallen, Shirley, and Lelouch, I've been planning that for a long time. As much as I made Shirley suffer earlier in and leading up to her Palace arc, breaking her down like that, letting Shirley put herself back together as she accepted her flaws, and getting Kallen to realize how much she was really like Shirley deep down were all essential to putting them in the right frame of mind where such a relationship may be viable. Lelouch of course showed further resistance on his end, but he does care deeply for both of them, and it's hard to remain in denial for too long when your other selves are throwing it in your face.**

 **Next time, back to the Palace!**


	52. Yin and Yang

"Show me your true form!"

Lelouch ripped off the mask of one of the Shadows that had replaced the terracotta garrison around the gatehouse of the Forbidden City. Gaining entry had been easy enough; the letter that they had taken from the garrison's commander indeed granted access into the city, its gates swinging wide for them as they approached. However, once they were inside, Gao Hai's Cognition recognized them as hostile, and so they had to fight or avoid the Shadows that were on patrol. It was no matter; Lelouch had expected as much.

The Shadow burst, reforming into four smaller Shadows. Three of them were bipedal cat creatures shaped like attractive women, but with white fur, black claws, long tails, and yellow eyes with slit-like pupils. Ironically enough, they were dressed in fur coats, spotted like white leopards, each with a red piece of cloth wrapping around underneath, and broad Chinese-style hats on their heads. They squatted, hands on muscled thighs, and would have seemed ready to pounce if they weren't wobbling from side to side, still dazed from having their mask forcibly removed. Standing behind them was another bipedal cat, though one that seemed much more like an actual cat, much smaller than its companions. It had blue-black fur and green eyes, much like Eliza, but was clad in plate armor, painted light blue, with a cat symbol on its breastplate. A green cape was tied around its neck, and it wore a helmet with a red tuft on top and holes cut to accommodate its ears. Two banners were fixed to its back, one with a cat's paw emblazoned on it in black, and the other with a symbol much like the one on the breastplate. It didn't seem to be holding an effective weapon, just a red cutout of a stylized cat attached to a short metal rod.

From the way their opponents were arranged, it seemed clear that the small armored cat was the leader of the enemy formation. However, the larger cat women stood between them, and would pose a more immediate threat once they had recovered. They had to use this window of opportunity to disrupt the enemy formation or outflank and surround them.

He called out his orders, and the Black Knights launched their attack.

"Master Cat!" Arthur shouted. "Magaru!" Gusts of wind buffeted the enemy's front line, only to be reflected back at him. Master Cat was resistant to its own spells, but Arthur still winced as his Persona was struck repeatedly. Unperturbed, Guren Jigoku rushed in, seizing one of the cat women in its golden claws, and destroyed it with a concentrated blast of radiation to its head, while Maid Marian rained arrows down on the enemy.

Euphemia moved along the flanks, trying to find a clean line of sight from which to attack the enemy, but by then the armored cat had recovered, casting Psio, a psychokinetic spell. Euphemia's mental state was not compromised, so she was spared from the worst of Psio's effects, but it was enough to knock her to her feet. Taking back the initiative, the armored cat attempted to rally the surviving Shadows under its command, casting Masukukaja and increasing their speed.

The cat women maintained their formation, as the armored cat shouted orders, launching their own wind spells agains the Black Knights, but it was a losing battle for the Shadows. Milly charmed one of them, which promptly turned on its comrade, and was itself killed in turn by Guren Jigoku. But the armored cat displayed a tenacity that Lelouch had seen in few Shadows, continuing to fight on even against impossible odds, surrounded on all sides. It lunged into the fray, bearing its fangs as the Black Knights struggled to hit it. What damage they could inflict was mitigated by a spell that had been upon it from the start of the battle, until Shirley summoned Maid Marian again and cast Dekaja, removing both its speed and defensive enhancements.

"The enemy's weakness is wind!" Leila called telepathically as she completed her analysis.

Lelouch found himself even more impressed with the small cat Shadow. Arraying the cat women, who could reflect wind spells, in front of it had effectively covered its own weakness.

"Time for some payback!" Arthur called. "Garula!" The armored cat was struck, and fell to its knees.

"Hold!" Lelouch ordered. "I want to talk to this one." He stepped forward. "You fight well," he told the Shadow.

"I fight for the glorious Huangdi, but now I know the dishonor of defeat!" the armored cat responded. "What do you fight for?"

"For our own justice," Lelouch replied.

"What good is justice without a master?!" the armored cat demanded angrily. "Thieves like you are without honor, doing whatever you please!"

Perhaps a different approach was needed. "Leila, if you would," Lelouch said with a nod.

She understood his meaning at once, and approached the Shadow.

"What do you think you're doing?" the Shadow hissed.

"It's okay," Leila smiled gently as she bent down in front of it, using her French accent again. "I'm not going to hurt you." She really was taking Milly's advice to heart, wasn't she? The dream that Lilim had created aside, Lelouch wasn't sure how he felt about that.

To the surprise of the other Black Knights, Leila then picked the Shadow up. It seemed a bit heavy in its armor, and the Shadow began flailing wildly, demanding to be put down, but then Leila cradled it in an arm and began to pet the base of its ears and under its chin. "We can be your masters now."

"Stop that! That... that..." The Shadow let out a contented purr. "Maybe you aren't so bad, for thieves." Its eyes turned back to Lelouch, even as Leila continued to stroke it. "You're their leader right, a fellow tactician? Why waste your talents on thievery? Didn't anyone ever tell you that stealing is wrong?"

"Stealing may be wrong, yes, but we commit evil to destroy the greater evil!"

The armored cat looked impressed. "You know, I wasn't always a cat... some idiot translated my name wrong, and I got stuck like this, and-" Its eyes widened. "I just remembered! I'm not a Shadow from this world! I come from the Sea of Souls! I'm Neko Shogun! Your future shines bright like a diamond! I'll be your mask now!" Neko Shogun burst into blue and white light, rushing from Leila's arms and flying into Lelouch's mask.

"Why does a Shadow get such high-quality petting?" Arthur whined. "I knocked it down. Don't I get any appreciation here?"

"You're absolutely right, Tama," Leila said, picking up Arthur and petting him as well.

"That's better."

"I think that's the last of the patrols in the vicinity," Lelouch said. "Can you confirm that?"

Leila nodded.

"Excellent. Let's get moving. We have a long way to go until we reach the central complex."

xXx

The quickest way to traverse the Forbidden City of Greed was via small boats that moved back and forth along its many canals. Unfortunately, the Black Knights could not simply ride them straight to the Palace's central complex. Flying Shadows patrolled overhead, and there were few places to hide on the water. Most of these Shadows took the form of strange, black and red birds with heads like seahorses and sickly, multicolored wings that tried to debilitate them by expelling stagnant air that made them more susceptible to a variety of ailments. They weren't the most threatening Shadows by themselves, but they would raise the security level of the Palace if they discovered the Black Knights. Far more dangerous were the dragons that ruled the skies. At a glance, they looked like the brightly decorated dragons that appeared at Chinese festivals, serpentine bodies made of cloth, but Leila cautioned that their power greatly exceeded that of the other Shadows in the area, and they should avoid getting close enough to discover their true forms. So the Black Knights made a number of short trips across the canals, taking cover in the surrounding city districts, as they slowly worked their way toward the central complex.

That was not to say that the city districts were safe. Terracotta Cognitions regularly marched through the streets, and there were other Shadows to watch out for. Some appeared as misshapen mounds of pulsing black mud that were resistant to weapons and tried to rob them of their strength before explosively self-destructing if given the chance. Others appeared like floating starfish with a single eye in the center. These Shadows were highly vulnerable to direct attacks, but they compensated by being magical powerhouses, conjuring columns of searing flames that stronger than anything Milly could cast with Medea, and used the same laser spell that Mao had used underneath Ashford Academy. There were also patrols of Neko Shoguns with fellow feline warriors, but these were easily convinced to turn a blind eye to the Black Knights once they realized that Lelouch had another Neko Shogun as his mask.

The districts themselves did much to put the lie to the Forbidden City of Greed's glittering facade. Much like the shantytown around the Resort of Gluttony, the overwhelming majority of buildings looked ramshackle, as if they were badly in need of maintenance. The Cognitions of the inhabitants were terracotta, like the soldiers, but unlike the shantytown Cognitions before them, which had seemed lifeless, no more than living corpses, these ones were active, performing all manners of backbreaking labor throughout the city. Often, a Cognition would collapse under their burden and shatter into ceramic fragments, which would be crushed underfoot by soldiers. The soldiers themselves were not exempt from this. If one fell behind, the others would keep on marching, leaving the fallen soldier to be quickly ground to dust. They did not seem to be actively searching for the Black Knights, for the Palace's security level was still low, but instead the soldiers were going about collecting taxes from the inhabitants in the form of gold or forced labor. If the resident had nothing to give, the soldiers would shake them down anyway, until blood impossibly began to seep from the terracotta.

It wasn't that Gao Hai was devouring the people of the Chinese Federation, as the Black King had seen himself as doing to those he blackmailed or addicted on Refrain. Gao Hai was using the Chinese people until they broke, and then callously discarding them, all to further his ambitions.

Understandably, his teammates were horrified by what they saw. Shirley had never seen just how depraved another Palace ruler could be, and covered her mouth to contain her gasp the first time she saw one of the Cognitions collapse, neither making any attempt to save itself nor receiving help from bystanders, before it was crushed. Lelouch firmly put a hand on her shoulder to dissuade her from doing anything reckless.

"Why didn't anyone try to help him?" she cried after the soldiers had passed.

"I saw something like that in the first Palace I infiltrated with them as well," Euphemia said sadly. "The part of the Palace that we were in had the form of a shopping mall. The Cognitions were in a frenzy buying things they couldn't afford, and if they went too far into debt, a thug would come over and drag them off. I tried to save one of the Cognitions, but he didn't listen to us at all, and went right back to shopping."

Lelouch nodded. "Cognitions are a product of the Palace ruler's minds, Dame. If Gao Hai thinks the people are too beaten down to fight back even when they're abused, then they won't. Cognitions are just simulacra; they may appear to be independent, sentient beings, but they aren't."

He felt his heart clench. His words were indisputably true, but looking at Shirley while saying them reminded him of the time that he had hesitated when Shadow Villetta had used her Cognitive Shirley as a shield, and how real the Cognition had seemed at the time. Grimacing, he forced the thought from his mind.

There were of course gaps in Gao Hai's Cognition within the city districts, providing the Black Knights with safe rooms to use. While resting in one, Lelouch wondered what he should do with the Queen's Necklace. The power within it appeared to slightly enhance most aspects of the wearer's Persona, and doubled as a small reserve of energy that they could draw upon to cast spells, reducing the mental strain upon themselves. Kallen was a natural choice for it. While her Persona was already very powerful, her aggressive fighting style and liberal use of nuclear spells to destroy her enemies meant that she could quickly push herself too far if she wasn't careful. The Queen's Necklace would somewhat mitigate that concern. But he sensed now that if he gave it to Kallen so soon after they had redefined their relationship to include Shirley, it would only come off as a slight to the latter, which he didn't want. That would undermine the understanding that they had reached. But in the meantime, the Queen's Necklace remained unused, something that irked him.

Save for Milly, the others didn't know that he was now dating both Kallen and Shirley. Of course, it was prime blackmail material for Milly, and maybe she was saving it for later, but at the same time, it wasn't in Milly's character to be intentionally malicious, especially where feelings were likely to be hurt. In any case, it wasn't something that they would be able to hide forever.

He shook his head. He didn't have time to be thinking about that now. Their break was over, and it was time to push further into the Palace.

xXx

As the Black Knights continued to make their way toward the central complex, Lelouch noticed that while the vast majority of the buildings in the outlying city districts were run-down, the ones closer to the center progressively grew larger and better-maintained, or at least put forth the facade of being such. He speculated that these buildings represented the residences of army captains and minor but ambitious bureaucrats who supported the High Eunuchs' reign and sought to ingratiate themselves with Gao Hai. It was clearly for naught. Locked out of the central complex, they were not important enough to Gao Hai to be granted admittance into the heart of his Palace, disposable as the rest of those that the High Eunuch ruled over.

Finally, they reached the gate at the outer wall. It didn't look so high that scaling it would be completely out of the question. As a matter of fact, there were a pair of bronze guardian lion statues flanking the gates, one male on the right, its paw on a ball, and a female on the left, watching over a smaller cub. They looked similar to his old Persona Shiisaa, but were much larger. If they could clamber atop the statues, they would be close enough that they could toss a grappling hook over the wall, and use that to secure a rope. There didn't even seem to be any Shadows around...

Instantly suspicious, Lelouch used the Third Eye. The statues seemed to glow a malevolent red against their dimmed surroundings.

"Those statues are Shadows!" Leila warned, confirming his suspicions. "Everyone, brace yourselves!"

Suddenly coming to life, the Guardian Lions pounced from their pedestals, landing in front of the Black Knights and blocking the path to the gate.

"So you're the the thieves who are here to steal the Huangdi's Treasure," the male Guardian Lion snarled.

"We shall not permit you to desecrate his inner sanctum with your filth, intruders!" the Guardian Lioness roared.

Lelouch thought quickly. If the guardians before them were indeed similar to Shiisa, then he already knew their weaknesses. Changing Personas, he ripped of his mask. "Arsene! Maeiha!" Tendrils of cursed energy lanced through both guardians. As expected, the Guardian Lion howled, and fell to its knees... but the Guardian Lioness was completely unfazed.

Smirking at him for a moment, the Guardian Lioness, let out a breath. "Mudoon."

What looked like a tall voodoo doll made of bound straw appeared in front of Shirley, whose green eyes went wide with terror. The spell was obviously a curse, which Shirley's Persona was virtually defenseless against. Instinctively, he could tell that this wasn't just any curse either, and she realized that too. If it connected with her, it would surely kill her. Euphy's Persona could revive Shirley if she fell, but that wasn't a risk he was willing to take. If Euphy was incapacitated, Shirley's spirit would be lost forever, and she would be truly dead. He had to prevent Shirley from being hit at all.

He still had some time before the curse took effect. Ripping off his mask without further delay, he called out, "Arsene! Tetraja!"

Before beginning the current infiltration of Gao Tai's Palace, Lelouch had visited the Velvet Room and executed Principality, formerly one of the angelic Shadows patrolling Shirley's Palace, on the electric chair. He used a blank card as a catalyst to capture one of Principality's spells, Tetraja, in a form that could be transferred to one of his other Personas. As Tsu had explained to him, Tetraja created a shield that prevented the soul from being exorcised from the body or ripped from it by a curse, though the shield only had enough power to protect each beneficiary's life once before it would need to be cast again. After the scare they had when the spell that he know knew as Hama had briefly killed Milly back in the Black King's Palace, and knowing just how vulnerable Shirley was to curses, Tetraja was an obvious choice, and he had given the spell to Arsene. Empowered through regular use of the gallows, Arsene was now faster than most of his other Personas and always dwelt within him, ideally positioning his initial Persona to be ready to protect his fellow Black Knights at a moment's notice.

If it were practical to do so, he would keep them protected by Tetraja's effects at all times. However, Tsu had warned him that each casting would take a lot out of him, causing him to tire if he used it repeatedly. But in situations like this, the cost of not using it was far too high.

Arsene appeared and began casting the spell as instructed, but Lelouch was already moving. There was always the chance that Arsene wouldn't finish before the curse claimed Shirley's life, and so he shoved her out of the way, readying himself to take it in her place. Now she was definitely safe. With any luck, Tetraja's shield would appear over him in another moment, blocking the curse... and if it didn't, Arsene resisted curses, though he couldn't nullify them entirely. He estimated that at a minimum, he had a 75% chance of survival. Those odds would have to do.

"Zero!" Kallen and Shirley shouted in unison.

Needles appeared around the voodoo doll, and drove into it repeatedly. Lelouch could feel the curse trying to rip away his life with each stab, but Arsene protected him, and in another moment Tetraja's shields came into effect over the Black Knights. He knew he would have to face a verbal lashing for his stunt later, but he would deal with that later.

They had a battle to win.

"Dame! Counterattack the Lioness with bless magic!" he ordered.

"Are you-" Shirley started.

"Do it!"

"Maid Marian! Kouga!" Shirley shouted. Spears of light impaled the Guardian Lioness, causing it to roar in anger as it fell to its knees alongside the Guardian Lion.

"Launch an all-out attack!"

The Black Knights charged while the enemy's defenses were down, inflicting heavy damage upon both guardians.

The guardians weren't finished off by the all-out attack, not that Lelouch expected them to be. Rising, the Guardian Lion drew in a breath. "Hamaon." A sphere of cards, glowing with blessed light, appeared around Lelouch, but the leader of Black Knights simply smirked, knowing he had nothing to fear. Even if he didn't have Tetraja protecting him, time spent in Lockdown had not only removed Arsene's former weakness to bless magic, but made the demonic thief immune to its effects. But the spell did at least prove to be of some use, as it blocked another casting of Mudoon from striking Euphemia.

Within him, Arsene laughed maniacally as Hamaon's energy discharged harmlessly around them. "Splendid! You know what to do now! Slaughter the enemy before you to your heart's content!"

"I can't agree more," he thought back to Arsene, before shouting out loud, "Ravage them!" Arsene obliged, once again striking the Guardian Lion, this time with Eiga, a curse that concentrated its power on a single target, while Shirley simultaneously had Maid Marian stun the Guardian Lioness with Kogua, allowing them to launch another all-out-attack.

Realizing that the battle was rapidly turning against them, the guardians changed their tactics, no longer using Mudoon and Hamaon, but bombarding the Black Knights with Maeiga and Makouga, cursed spirits spiraling down around them while spears of light erupted in their midst. Shirley let out a cry as she was knocked down by the former, and the Guardian Lioness wasted no time in charging forward, raising its claws for for a swipe that was clearly intended to finish her off. But Guren Jigoku came to Shirley's aid, driving its knife into the the Guardian Lioness' paw. This did little real damage to the Guardian Lioness, but it wasn't meant to. It was but a feint. Guren Jigoku let go of the knife, and while the Guardian Lioness was distracted, still trying to process where Kallen's Persona had come from, and moved with blinding speed, seizing the Lioness' head in its golden claws. The sculpted bronze that made up the Lioness' features began to glow and bubble, running as Kallen furiously continued her assault, only stopping when it resembled only misshapen slag. The Guardian Lioness lurched wildly, and the toppled on its side.

The Guardian Lion was still fighting, and with several of the Black Knights injured they couldn't commit to an all-out attack, but volley after volley of curses from Arsene had ravaged it all the same. With one last casting of Eiga, it too collapsed, this time for good. Both guardians burst into wisps of black energy before reforming on their pedestals, but this time they were inert, no more than the statues they had first appeared to be.

"Um, Zero," Shirley said softly. "It's not that I'm not grateful to you for saving me there..."

"But what were you thinking, risking yourself like that?" Kallen fumed. "Don't you remember? It's our jobs to protect you, not the other way around!" Noticing that she was getting several funny looks, while Milly looked on in quiet amusement, Kallen quickly tried added, "You're more valuable than any of us, Zero, with how you can change Personas and adapt to any situation! When you took that curse yourself..."

"You nearly gave us a heart attack!"

"I was as scared as you were," Euphemia said softly. "But when did the two of you start finishing each other's sentences?"

"What are you talking about?" Kallen demanded.

"We're not finishing each other's sentences!" Shirley said quickly. Too quickly, for she only undermined her argument by speaking so soon after Kallen that it sounded more like a continuation of what Kallen had been saying rather than a separate thought.

"A merging of opposites into a new and harmonious whole," Leila whispered, nodding slightly to herself.

"I don't want any of you saying that you're less valuable," Lelouch said before the conversation could go further down that path. "My power wouldn't be much good without the rest of you to back me up." He surveyed the other Black Knights. "How does everyone feel?"

"I believe it would be foolhardy to press on further today," Leila replied. "We risk depleting our strength too much if we move deeper into unknown territory. Now that we have a better grasp of the layout of the city, we should be able to make our way here far more efficiently upon our return."

"Very well," Lelouch nodded. "We'll regroup in a few days for our next infiltration."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 35.7%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 25**

xXx

Lelouch awoke, pleased that his sleep had not been interrupted, either by Igor or a certain Persona of his, who was currently cooling her heels in Lockdown.

Nunnally was waiting for him in their dining room as Sayoko served breakfast.

"Good morning, big brother," Nunnally smiled, her violet eyes meeting his own. Lelouch still couldn't get over how precious of a sight they were.

"Good morning, Nunnally," he replied. "I trust that you are well."

She nodded. "And you, big brother?"

"Quite," he replied, and the two of them began eating.

"You've begun infiltrating another Palace, haven't you?" she asked. "You've started coming back late every few days again."

"Yes," he told her. The two of them had promised not to keep secrets between each other anymore.

"Whose Palace is it?"

"Consul-General Gao Hai, of the Chinese Federation."

"You're going to disrupt the wedding of the Chinese Empress to our eldest brother." It wasn't a question.

"You know me well, Nunnally. But I assume that the Irregulars have been busy as well."

"We've been exploring Mementos," Nunnally replied. "We can't get too far in there by ourselves, but we've changed a few hearts, and earned enough for the others to be able to support themselves."

Of course the Irregulars wouldn't be able to go as deep into Mementos as the Black Knights. They were the least well-known of the groups that were changing hearts in the Metaverse.

"For the most part, the others have been lying low," Nunnally continued. "They don't want to draw attention to themselves. But if you come across any more information on Code-R, please share it with us."

It wasn't said, but the implication was obvious. While the Black Knights aimed to change the world, the Irregulars' aims were less ambitious, focused instead on evading capture and bringing those behind Code-R, or Britannia's broader Cognitive Psience research, to justice.

"If you don't mind me changing the subject, big brother, I noticed that Shirley seems really happy," Nunnally said after a moment. "Are you... going out with her?"

She had seen through them so easily? There was no point to denying it. "Yes."

"And Kallen... is she okay with that?" Nunnally asked. Her voice was soft, but Lelouch had the feeling that were he to answer no, Nunnally would suddenly become very angry with him.

Fortunately, he didn't have to say that. "I wouldn't have agreed to it if Kallen wasn't. The two of them suggested it, actually."

Nunnally's mood instantly lightened. "That's good. I didn't want you to be cheating on Kallen, but it's not really two-timing if both Kallen and Shirley have agreed to it. Now I can look forward to having two sister in-laws," she smiled.

"Congratulations, Master Lelouch," Sayoko said. "I always knew you had it in you."

Lelouch blanched. He thought Sayoko had left already.

xXx

In the end, he wasn't sure that he had convinced Sayoko of anything. Indeed, he was sure that in her mind he had only confirmed what she thought about him. But at least Sayoko could be trusted not to talk, and Nunnally had promised that she wouldn't pry further into his relationship with Kallen and Shirley now that she was satisfied he wasn't being unfaithful to either.

He still hadn't met with Nina, so he headed down to where she had been working on constructing her Knightmare Frame. Sure enough, Nina was there, busying herself as she made adjustments to it. The machine was shaping up quite well, looking much sturdier than before, and judging from the wires sticking out of it, Nina was in the process of adding electrical systems to it. Moreover, there was a small, cube-shaped sample of refined sakuradite on a table nearby her, its pink glow visible through the walls of its container.

"Were you able to meet with Princess Euphemia?" he asked.

Nina jumped slightly. "Lelouch! How long have you been there for?" Evidently, she had been so absorbed in her work that she hadn't noticed him coming in.

"I just got here, actually."

Nina clambered down from the Knightmare Frame to meet him on the floor.

"Yes, I did," Nina said softly. "About my work... And that incident back in Izu..."

"What did she say, if you don't mind me asking?"

"She said that it was wonderful that I was into science at such a young age, and that with my research, I could do more to change the world than she could as an Imperial Princess, that the difference in our stations didn't matter to her. I was nervous at first, but after a while, it almost felt like I could tell her anything. So I told her about what happened to me..." Her eyes became distant in recollection and her voice became strained. "All those years ago... I told her... How scared I was of those Elevens, and how grateful I was when she helped save me. And then..." She was trembling now.

"It's okay, Nina," he told her.

"She didn't judge me at all... But she said I couldn't keep closing myself away and living my life in fear of El-" She shook her head. "No, she said the Japanese. That not all of them were like that, but that we'd keep hurting each other if things carried on like they'd been. That she lost her brother, Prince Clovis, when his sorrow and rage at the Japanese turned to hatred, twisting a kind man into someone who would do those terrible experiments... I wondered why she was telling me something like that"

Indeed, it must have seemed unusual to Nina that Euphy would so easily acknowledge her brother's crimes, let alone that a princess would confide in a commoner about something like that. Then again, the two of them had already shared a secret, about Euphemia's presence in Izu.

"She said she didn't want that to happen to me," Nina continued," and that she wanted to create a world where I could live without fear, and everyone, Britannians and Numbers alike, would be able to understand each other. A gentler world..."

"I think Princess Euphemia is right," Lelouch said.

"I wish I could believe in that world," Nina said, looking down. "Princess Euphemia believed in it, and she believed in me. But apart from my research, I'm not good for anything."

"You're a member of the Student Council, Nina, and a friend to all of us... even Suzaku. Anyone can change, Nina. Don't you see how far you've already come, Nina? Just last year, you never would have gotten along with Suzaku. And it's not just that. Anyone can change the world, if they truly put their mind to it and have friends who will support them."

Nina sighed. "I know you're trying to help Lelouch. I'm grateful that you came to my aid in Izu, and spoke up for me when we met Earl Asplund. You've changed more in these last few months than I ever could hope to. You're far more outgoing than you ever were before. But I'm still afraid. I just can't move on from what happened so easily." She looked up hesitantly. "Do you think... can the Black Knights... really change people's hearts?"

Lelouch tried to hide his surprise at the question. "Why are you asking me that, Nina?" He asked cautiously.

"They'd never waste their time on someone like me. But I thought... maybe if they stole mine, I'd finally be able to move on, and be able to truly believe in Princess Euphemia's dream."

"Didn't you think that they murdered Prince Clovis?"

"I did," Nina admitted. "But that doesn't make sense, does it?. Why would they kill him before he finished confessing? That's what Princess Euphemia thought." She frowned. "And those leaks all but confirmed that much of what Prince Clovis said was true."

"Well, if you're sure, Nina, you could always anonymously put a petition on KnightWatch. Rumor has it that the Black Knights keep an eye on that site."

She nodded. "Thank you, Lelouch. I think I'll do that."

xXx

"So you came," Shadow Nina said within her Distortion in Mementos, glaring at the Black Knights, who had assembled on short notice. Her hair was no longer in its usual braids, but disheveled, and her glowing golden eyes were not covered by glasses. Her voice was stronger, more hateful, and slightly deeper than the real Nina's, with a touch of mania, echoing in the enclosed space.

"Did my other self tell you that she wanted a change of heart? How foolish of her. Why would I want to change at all? Everything is much more comfortable when I'm hidden in my shell. I don't have to face cruel reality when I'm building Knightmares or programming simulations. I just go along with what the others tell me. What else can I hope for?"

"Nina, that's-" Lelouch started.

"Stop patronizing me!" Shadow Nina snapped. "I've done nothing to deserve your kindness... let alone Princess Euphemia's! I'm damaged goods!" Her eyes drifted over to Euphemia. "She's one of you, isn't she? I'd recognize that hair anywhere."

"Nina, I-" Euphemia said, stepping forward.

"You thought you'd take pity on me?" Shadow Nina sneered. Her expression softened. "I admit, I didn't mind it. When you saved me, you were like an avenging goddess... Before I knew it, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Meeting with you was a dream come true for me... and I wanted you to like me... so I said that I'd try to overcome my fear of the Elevens." She laughed. "But that was a lie. Oh, I'd make a show of tolerance, but no matter how pathetic I am, as long as I can hate the Elevens and make sure that they suffer for what they did to me, I can take solace in knowing that there are people even more miserable than I am!"

Darkness gathered around Shadow Nina, and she transformed, assuming a robotic form, like a Knightmare Frame but more spindly, glowing inscriptions floating around it that displayed a rapidly changing stream of information.

"Now I'm pissed off!" Kallen shouted. "I'm not going to hold back if that's what it takes to beat some sense into you! "

Guren Jigoku rushed Shadow Nina, blasting her with nuclear power.

"Recalibrating," Shadow Nina said mechanically. A barrier materialized in front of Shadow Nina, and suddenly the waves of radiant energy that Kallen was unleashing upon her were rolling harmlessly off of it.

"Take-Minakata!" Lelouch shouted, summoning the Persona that he had first encountered, long before he ever fused it, as the Defeated Avenger in the Black King's arena. "Zionga!" Lightning struck, overloading the systems of Shadow Nina's Knightmare.

"You're just like those filthy Elevens!" Shadow Nina snarled as she bore the brunt of the Black Knights' all-out attack. "No matter... I'll just recalibrate again!" A new barrier appeared.

"Queen! Attack with magic again!"

Trusting that he had a strategy, Kallen summoned Guren Jigoku once more, who fired a beam of radiation at Shadow Nina. Instead of being stopped by the barrier, it went straight through, damaging the Shadow.

"It's as I thought!" Lelouch announced. "She adapts her defenses to nullify whatever struck her last! Everyone, stagger your attacks!"

"Don't think it will be that easy!" Shadow Nina shouted back. She counterattacked with heavy nuclear spells of her own, launched from cannons mounted on her shoulders, prompting Lelouch to switch to Ariadne Picaro. Seeing that her spells were ineffective against him and Kallen, Shadow Nina changed tactics, using Megidola to cut through their defenses.

"We're only trying to help you, Nina!" he called out.

"Don't think I'm ungrateful for you chasing off those Elevens... so I'll make this quick for you," Shadow Nina replied. Blue energy gathered around her.

"Be careful!" Leila warned. "She's charging up for a massive attack! We won't survive if she manages to unleash it!"

Lelouch summoned Take-Minakata again, and the Black Knights launched another all out attack, but Shadow Nina's concentration didn't break.

"It's now or never!" Lelouch shouted. The Black Knights launched a flurry of attacks, one after the other. Shadow Nina no longer bothered to recalibrate her defenses, putting everything into charging her attack.

"Nina, please stop this," Euphemia pleaded.

Shadow Nina hesitated for a moment, and that was all Lelouch needed. Shadow Nina let out a cry as he struck her with Zionga one last time, and collapsed. The darkness dissipated, leaving her gasping for breath on the ground.

"I'm sorry..." she said, not making eye contact with them. "You all must hate me now, seeing what I'm really like."

"What did I tell you, Nina?" Lelouch asked. "We're your friends. We're here to help and support you through anything."

"No one should have to go through what you did," Euphemia said, "especially so young."

"Don't tell me." Kallen said. "She was-"

"Yes," Euphemia said sadly.

"I've known for a long time," Milly said. "But it wasn't my business to share it. I did what I could, and Nina got a lot better once she joined the Student Council."  
She frowned. "But these feelings were still festering inside her."

Kallen sighed as she looked down on Shadow Nina. "It's hard not to feel at least a little sorry for you. But just because you're hurting inside doesn't give you any right to call people Elevens!"

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Arthur nodded.

"I know..." Shadow Nina admitted. "Most of them never did anything to me. But it was just easier to hate them, and it gave me strength. At least, I convinced myself of that. All I was doing was closing myself off from the world."

I didn't know, Nina..." Shirley said. "But we won't treat you any differently because of it. They all accepted me, even after seeing all of my faults laid bare. I promise."

Shadow Nina looked up. "Do you... all mean it?"

They all nodded.

Tears began rolling from her eyes, and then she smiled gently. "Thank you."

Lelouch reached down, extending a hand to her, and Shadow Nina handed over the shimmering germ of a Treasure to him.

"I'll return to my real self now," Shadow Nina said. "I can't tell you what it feels like to no longer have that weight on my shoulders..."

She then vanished into light.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 35.6%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 24**

xXx

"Lelouch!" Nina said, greeting him warmly as he found her again, working on her Knightmare Frame. Nina didn't usually look so happy. He also couldn't help but notice that she had let down her hair, as her Shadow had, but unlike her Shadow, it was not at all dishevled.

"You're in a good mood," he told her.

"I woke up this morning, and it was like all the fear and bitterness inside my heart had suddenly gone! They really did it! The Black Knights changed my heart!" She blushed slightly, and looked to the side. "But you probably already knew that, Lelouch."

"What are you saying, Nina?" he asked, taken aback.

"You're one of the Black Knights, aren't you, Lelouch?" She said softly. "To be honest, I didn't post my request on KnightWatch. I was too frightened to do so. You were the only one who knew about it. So that means you have to be a Black Knight if my heart was changed overnight." She shook her head. "But I think I already knew, though I remained in denial about it for the longest of times. All those things I've been making for you... they're not for a play, are they? They're the sorts of tools a phantom thief would use. The Black Knights started here at Ashford too, and you had the motive to change Coach Nu's heart."

He had been careless. What an amateur mistake of him to make. Still, he couldn't fault her reasoning, and he decided it was better to project an image of confidence, so he quickly hid his grimace and chuckled. "What are you going to do if that's true, Nina?"

"Nothing," she replied. "At first I kept quiet because I figured it was best not to ask questions about where you were getting all those materials you brought to me. Then it was because I wasn't sure if my suspicions were right or not, and I was frightened of what would happen if I told anyone. And now... Princess Euphemia is working with you too, isn't she? Her showing up in Izu like that's too much of a coincidence if that's not the case."

"Very impressive, Nina. Perhaps you should have been our class's detective instead."

"I am a fan of Sherlock Holmes," Nina said modestly. "But that's not the point. The Black Knights aren't evil, like I once thought they were. I can't see you killing Shirley's father. Someone else framed you for it, but you're going to bring them to justice, right?"

"We are."

Nina nodded, greatly reassured. "You, Princess Euphemia, and the others... you're all working to make the world a better place. I believe that now. I may not be able to do much... but I'd like to continue helping you make a difference in my own way. I can't think of any better way to thank you for what you've done for me."

"Very well, Nina. I accept your offer."

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath

Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion

And break the yoke of thy heart.

Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret

of the Hermit, granting thee infinite power…

A new possibility emerged within him... Ongyo-ki, the strongest Persona of the Hermit Arcana. It was ironic that Nina would give rise to a Japanese Persona within him. He would have expected one like that from Sayoko. But perhaps it was a fitting reflection of Nina leaving her prejudice behind.

"Thank you for everything, Lelouch," Nina said. "I'm not going to hide in my shell any longer, and I'll be behind you every step of the way."

xXx

Lelouch returned to the Student Council room after meeting with Nina. Suzaku was there, doing some paperwork as part of his duties on the council. He was listening to the news, which was reporting on the upcoming marriage of the Chinese Empress to Crown Prince Odysseus.

"There you are, Lelouch!" Suzaku called out. "Have you come to help with the paperwork?"

"I have," Lelouch replied.

"That's a relief," Suzaku sighed. "There's still so much that needs to be done before the next trimester starts."

"No time like the present then."

They had been working together for a while when Suzaku said, "You know, it's awfully tricky to find you these days. It always seems like you're off doing one thing or the other. We don't often hang out like we used to."

"I know. My schedule's been pretty full these days," Lelouch replied.

"Going out on dates with Kallen, right?"

"Suzaku, I-"

"It's fine, Lelouch. I totally get it. I'm glad to see that you found someone for you. We're guys, and getting interested in girls and dating is of growing up. Don't think it's just your fault that we haven't been able to spend much time with each other either. Work has kept me pretty busy lately as well."

"Engineering, right?"

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence before Suzaku spoke again.

"There's been something that's been bothering me, Lelouch."

"Oh?"

"It's about the Black Knights... they've been awfully quiet lately, haven't they?"

Suzaku was still going on about them? Making sure not to show his annoyance, Lelouch replied, "I'd say so. They haven't had a high-profile change of heart since the Black King."

"It makes me worry..." Suzaku frowned. "It makes me think they're planning something big."

"Like what?"

Suzaku gestured at the television. "They'll want to disrupt Prince Odysseus' royal marriage to the Empress of China. They'll go after Prince Schneizel or the Consul-General, if the Glinda Knights back in Pendragon don't get to Prince Odysseus first. Though that last one is a bit of a stretch, if you ask me."

That was a remarkably accurate deduction. "Have you been discussing theories with Rolo?" Lelouch asked, putting on a good-natured chuckle. "But why not target the Empress herself, and have her call of the wedding?"

"The Empress is just a child. She's not the one running things in the Chinese Federation, and I doubt she's committed the sorts of crimes that the Black Knights make people confess to. She's too young for that."

"So you admit that that Prince Schneizel and the Consul-General have committed the sorts of crimes that would make them likely targets of the Black Knights?"

'That's not the point!" Suzaku said heatedly. "The Black Knights are criminals too! Don't get me started on that last stunt of theirs! Not only are they already causing the Viceroy to crack down more harshly than before, but if their leader Zero brainwashed those girls into following him..."

"Don't tell me you've been reading those trashy stories on the internet," Lelouch said testily. "They're no better than tabloid nonsense. Besides, criminals they may be, but as far as I'm concerned, those the Black Knights have targeted have always been worse, and had it coming to them."

"Lelouch, this isn't something to joke about! If the Black Knights disrupt the wedding and cause an international incident, who knows what will happen?"

"If they don't, then Britannia will do to China what they did to Japan. Not that I hear that China's High Eunuchs are much better."

"I still can't condone them changing people's hearts like that... especially if it's going to get a lot of innocent people caught up in the upheaval!"

How curious it was that Suzaku would raise the same objection that Euphemia had.

"Relax, Suzaku," Lelouch replied. "It's not like it's your job to catch the Black Knights. Leave that to Rolo."

"Yeah..." Suzaku said, looking down.

"We've been over this before, haven't we, Suzaku? I don't want to do anything that would make Nunnally sad."

"Yeah," Suzaku said, looking up. "Well... just be careful Lelouch... things could be getting pretty crazy here soon."

"I will. Make sure you take care of yourself too, Suzaku."

"I'm more than capable of taking care of myself."

"Overconfident as always."

"I could say the same of you," Suzaku retorted.

"Arguing just like old times," Lelouch grinned, and he felt the power of the Justice Arcana grow a little stronger.

No matter what happened, he would still have that bond with Suzaku.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 35.3%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 23**

 **A/N:**

 **Three hundred sixty-four days, nearly 280,000 words, and fifty two chapters... to think I've come so far in so short a time. It's far more than what I imagined when I first published the prologue. There's no doubt that this has thus far been my most successful story to date, and I would like to extend thanks to everyone who's read, followed the story, reviewed, and left constructive feedback. Also, great thanks to my current beta readers, who have been a tremendous help.**

 **Of course, there's still quite a way to go, but I think I can still get a few more chapters in over the** **summer. I'm thinking that it may be good to have an interlude from the perspective of the Irregulars soon, as it was correctly pointed out that we haven't seen much of them yet in the story (though they will come into play again in the main narrative later). But then we'll be back to the Palace.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	53. Interlude - Nightmare in Wonderland

The Irregulars moved through Mementos, pursuing a new lead on Britannia's Cognitive Psience research. Code-R may have been formally disbanded, but they had little doubt that Britannia was still quietly continuing to pursue the secrets of the Metaverse. Two of their members had listened in on Prince Schneizel's conversation on Kamine Island, where he said that he believed that the Emperor had an interest in Cognitive Psience. The fact that access to such a beautiful island was so tightly restricted when the ruins were its only other noteworthy feature was highly suspicious, and the fact that the Emperor's Palace had manifested there confirmed that far more was going on there than was apparent to them.

The Irregulars had never been as concerned with making a name for themselves as the Black Knights, but they had a vested interest in quietly investigating the truth behind the empire's secret research program, to understand why they had been made to suffer through it, or in Nemo's case, what she might have been subjected to. They were all fugitives, four of them from Code-R, abducted from Britannia's various Areas, and one former Princess, from the capital of Pendragon itself. It was an improbable partnership, but attention was the last thing any of them needed, and in spite of the difference in their backgrounds, it worked surprisingly well.

To Alice, it seemed that fate had brought Nunnally to them. After their breakout from the Code-R research lab in the Narita Mountains, the former experimental subjects had decided that they needed to get as far away as possible while Mao's rampage kept local Britannian forces busy. They could have chosen to team up with Mao, but he was obviously dangerously unbalanced, and as soon as he learned that they didn't intended to follow him, he had tried to kill them with his new Persona. They had, of course, escaped. While it was obvious to both Code-R and Mao that their next move would be to head to the Tokyo Settlement, at least they had a better chance of blending in among millions of inhabitants than remaining out in the open. But while that had brought them to the same city where their future leader resided, the odds of encountering any given individual there by chance was was small.

At first, Alice and her former lab escapees had spent most of their time hiding in the Metaverse. Soldiers couldn't follow them there, save the ones they had accidentally brought in with them, whom they had been forced to kill. For the most part, the Metaverse seemed safe. There were a few locations that seemed to be guarded by strange, shadowy creatures that were invariably hostile, but the escapees kept their distance from them. Still, they needed to return to the real world from time to time to obtain supplies like food, water, and clothing that wasn't Britannian straitjackets. At the time, they didn't have any money, as they weren't actively exploring Mementos or the Palaces, and in fact didn't know of them, so they had to turn to thievery to survive. They were assisted in their petty heists by the Metaverse Navigator, a mysterious app that had first installed itself on the phones they had stolen. Mao had actually given them their first MetNav-equipped phone during their escape from the lab, back when he thought they could serve as agents of his demented justice, tossing it to Sancia, the eldest of the Code-R test subjects, who was now known as Order. With the MetNav, they could slip back into reality, grab what they needed, and untraceably return to their Metaverse hideout before the authorities could arrive.

Yet soon they needed something that could not easily be stolen. Whether due to a prolonged stay in the Metaverse, the strain of Personas that had only partially manifested upon entering that world, unlike Mao's fully-realized Momus, and threatened to go out of control, or the lack of some unknown antidote that had been administered as a Code-R failsafe, their health began to deteriorate with alarming speed. Lucretia was the first to sicken, but soon all of them were displaying one or more symptoms of her affliction: splitting headaches, nausea, feelings of weakness, cool and clammy skin, and involuntary spasms.

They tried to treat Lucretia as best as they could, stealing medicine for her as they had their other supplies, but none of it seemed to work, and their primitive Personas were of no use either. Soon, they were forced to admit that they were out of their depth, and that Lucretia desperately needed professional treatment.

A hospital was the last place that any of them wanted to visit after their experiences with Code-R and the doctors who had experimented on them in the Narita laboratory. But they had few other options. They could seek out a back-alley doctor, but finding one would take time that they might not have, as such practitioners tended not to broadly advertise their services. Even if they could find one, such an establishment was more likely to exist in the ghettos, which posed its own risks to them. The ghettos were overwhelmingly populated by Japanese people who had lost almost everything to Britannia. While most had been beaten down and were just trying to get by, lingering resentment meant that there would some who would be hostile to any Britannian-looking foreigners who might set foot in the ghettos.

While all of the escapees in their group were from Areas that had been conquered by Britannia rather than being Britannians themselves, Alice and Lucretia could both pass as full Britannians, coming from Area 2, the former French territories in Canada, while Sancia, born in Area 3, the former Spanish possessions in Mexico, could pass as part Britannian as well. Of them, Dalque, who would become known as Power, was the only one who couldn't pass as being at least part Britannian, hailing from Area 6, which encompassed much of South America. As such, they could hardly expect to be warmly welcomed in the ghettos. Moreover, they had no special powers in the real world, and were in slowly failing health, meaning they would be easy prey for anyone looking to take their anger out on Britannians.

But while their mostly Britannian looks were a liability in the ghettos, they were an asset in the Tokyo Settlement, enabling them to move relatively freely through the city. Yes, they were behind a rash of thefts, but the ability to dive in and out of the Metaverse had limited their exposure, and so far they were unaware of significant media coverage of their crimes, nor an organized police response. Perhaps the remnants of Code-R had been quietly suppressing news about them, eager to avoid even more attention being drawn to their project than there had been in the wake of Prince Clovis' confession and presumed murder by the Black Knights, though they now knew the Black Knights had been innocent in Clovis' death. In any case, that had left the escapees with an opportunity that they could exploit.

They hadn't just blindly selected a hospital to seek treatment at. They had sought out an institution with a reputation for professionalism, privacy, and charity. If a hospital showed any signs of having been involved in any sort of shady business in the past, they rejected it. Before long, they had narrowed it down and decided which hospital they would gamble upon.

They should have been more careful.

Everything had seemed like it was going well when they arrived at the hospital's emergency department. They didn't have an appointment, but the staff had been friendly, and a doctor had agreed to see them. But Code-R's influence was far more pervasive than they could have imagined. Most of the nurses and doctors were innocent of any knowing involvement in Code-R, but they had begun screening for potential Persona-users, using the test that Dr. Fenette had developed, following a change in the hospital's management, under the guise of a new standard diagnostic test. The change was for the most part invisible to the general public, and so the lab escapees had no way of knowing about it at the time. But more importantly, the staff had received detailed, albeit falsified, files on Alice, Sancia, Lucretia, and Dalque, presenting them as escaped psychiatric patients who were dangers to themselves and others, and asked to quietly contain them until they could be transported back to a mental hospital. They each received treatment, for Code-R had no interest in four of its most promising test subjects dying prematurely if they could be safely recaptured, but a sedative was mixed into the medicine. From there, a call was sent out to the facility that they had supposedly escaped from, which was actually directed to the staff of the man who had been Code-R's highest-ranking enforcer and the one behind the hospital's recent management changes, Colonel Madd.

Madd was a thoroughly unpleasant man, and one that the escapees knew all too well. Once, Madd had been chosen to serve as the commanding officer of the special unit of Persona-users that Prince Clovis had hoped to create. In his regular inspections of his "unit", Madd had always referred to them as "Irregulars," a title that they would later claim for themselves in a show of defiance against him. Bald, large, and powerful, Madd had an intimidating physical presence, and his cantankerous nature was in no way helped by the fact that he was obviously not a pure-blooded Britannian. Having borne the scorn of his colleagues for too long, Madd now had a habit of brutalizing anyone who dared to disrespect him, and was driven to make a name for himself at any cost.

Alice and her unconscious companions had awoken in what appeared to be a storage area in the hospital's basement, which seemed to be be in the process of being hastily converted into a new Code-R site. Of course. Not only had Madd anticipated that they would eventually require medical attention, he was using the hospital's reputation as a shield. He couldn't use the Narita laboratory anymore, but few would think much if unconscious "patients" were brought into or transported through the hospital, let alone suspect that unethical research was being done there.

Madd had appeared, standing at a safe distance behind bulletproof glass, and berated them for being so ungrateful to run away from Narita. He said that he had been "perfecting" them, making them more than human. No, he had continued to rant, they would be among the first in a generation of truly human beings, standing above the mindless rabble, and the hospital would be one of the factories that would produce them henceforth.

Madd was of course, quite insane, and Alice and her friends wanted no more of his attempts to "perfect" them. But there wasn't any hope that anyone from the outside would come to save them. Mustering what strength she could, Alice had reached for her pocket with her hand. Her restraints prevented her from moving her arms much, but she had just enough mobility to wriggle her fingers and wrist around to do so. She found that her phone was still inside her pocket. They had been moved so quickly that they hadn't been subjected to a proper search.

Madd realized what she was reaching for, and taunted her, saying that there was no way that she could use the phone to call for help, as there was no cell reception in the room. That she might use her phone to enter the Metaverse never seemed to cross his mind. What neither of them had known was that her Metaverse Navigator had picked up on certain keywords during Madd's speech, and that when she activated the app it was primed to bring Alice and her fellow escapees to a new destination, the world within Madd's heart.

While the areas of the Metaverse that they had explored to that point had been for the most part a carbon copy of the real world, the hospital was now changed almost beyond recognition, into a noisy factory, the air permeated by the stench of blood. That alone was enough to tell them that, while they had escaped from Madd's clutches, they weren't safe yet.

Breaking out of their bonds was surprisingly easy. Alice had always felt a bit stronger and faster in the Metaverse, perhaps because of her latent Persona powers, and the treatment she had received earlier in the hospital had eased her symptoms, at least for now. Lucretia, whose condition had been the most severe, needed help, but soon all four of them were free.

As she had during the escape from Narita, Sancia had taken charge, calm and collected in spite of their grisly surroundings. It wasn't long before they encountered shadowy monsters like the ones that they had glimpsed elsewhere in the Metaverse, stalking the floor of the factory in force. Where there had been orderlies, nurses, and doctors, there were now tortured, cybernetic creatures, seeming more like zombies than anything else. Sancia recognized that incomplete as their Personas were, it was best to avoid fighting when they could, and so they began stealthily making their way through the factory, searching for an exit. Unlike other parts of the Metaverse, they couldn't use the MetNav to directly return to the real world from within the factory, and in any case doing so would dump them right back into Madd's clutches.

The nightmarish factory was cavernous, and it had seemed like it went on forever. They had no way of knowing much further than they had to go, but but Alice had known they would be in trouble if it went on for too much longer. While not as exhausting as fighting, darting from hiding place to hiding place was tiring them, and such exertion was definitely not good for Lucretia, considering her condition. The concentration of enemies in the factory was also steadily getting higher. The factory was on high alert, with klaxons blaring and everything flashing red around them.

But then, they saw her, a girl in a wheelchair, seemingly lost in the factory. Alice recalled feeling her heart clench. Her younger sister, a paraplegic, had died in a fire when she was little... the same fire that had let Code-R take her without trouble. For the briefest of moments, Alice even thought that the girl might even be her sister, or at least her sister as viewed through a looking-glass. But that was impossible. All that she had seen through the factory had made clear that it was Madd's world. Her fellow escapees were the only real things here, while everything else was a product of Madd's twisted mind.

Yet Madd had no reason to attach such importance to her sister, and as Alice looked more closely, she saw that the girl wasn't her sister at all. The girl was extremely pretty, with hair much longer than her sister's had ever been, light brown tresses that fell to the girl's hips, and she wore an unfamiliar pink school uniform with a tie emblazoned with a fleur de lis. With her eyes closed, the girl almost looked as if she could have been a sleeping princess from a fairytale, but that illusion was shattered by the look of anxiety on the girl's face. The girl was... calling for her brother.

Those calls hadn't helped the girl find her brother, but it looked like they had attracted the attention of enemies. Already, those shadowy creatures were creeping up behind the girl. Crippled and blind, she would fare far worse in a fight than even Lucretia in her failing health would. No, to call it fight would be wrong, since that implied that the girl could have fought back when by all appearances she was completely defenseless. It would have been a slaughter.

In that moment, Alice knew that she couldn't simply stand idly by while the creatures ended the girl's life. She had failed her sister, and she knew that she couldn't change the past, but it felt as if to let this girl die was to fail her sister again. Summoning her Persona, weak and formless as it was, Alice had leapt out from her hiding place and moved to protect the girl in the wheelchair.

She was able to save the girl with the help of her comrades, who had jumped into the fray as well, seeking to save her from her own recklessness, but her stunt proved fray drew the attention of even more guards, and before long Madd had caught up with them. But it wasn't Colonel Madd as they knew him. Like the former doctors and orderlies shambling through the factory, Madd had also become a cyborg, but his cybernetic enhancements seemed much better constructed and integrated with his body, even as they replaced much of it. But what Alice recalled most clearly of all had been Madd's chilling eyes, glowing supernatural gold as he glared at them. She now knew that it had been Madd's Shadow, but she had never encountered a person's Shadow before. Moreover, Shadow Madd was wrapped in a dark aura, radiating killing intent, far more virulent than even the worst of his rages that she had seen back in the Narita laboratory.

Shadow Madd had declared that they were failed experiments, which would have to be disposed of. He had then offered them the mock reassurance that he would rebuild their bodies better than ever before and purge them of their pesky wills, so that they would be perfect, obedient soldiers. Without their individuality, they would not be able to truly join the ranks of the new master race that he would create, but they would still be the first steps toward it.

Madd then ordered his men to subdue them. They had tried to fight back, but there were too many enemies, and soon they were sprawled on the floor, as Shadow Madd stood over them and laughed.

The girl in the wheelchair had protested, crying that he wouldn't get away with such inhumane experiments and hurting other people, but to Alice's horror, Shadow Madd had siezed the girl, lifting her out of her wheelchair and roughly tossing her to the floor.

"This is Britannia!" Shadow Madd had roared at the girl as she cringed in pain. "The strongest rule, and the weak perish! That's evolution, or so His Majesty says." Shadow Madd had then shook his head. "If you had the potential, we could rebuild your legs, and make you far more than just an invalid. But without it, you're worthless to me."

Shadow Madd had moved to strike the girl again, but he was thrown back without warning. For a moment, Alice thought that she was seeing things, but standing between the girl and Madd was a doppelgänger that looked just like the girl, but she was blonde and had the same glowing golden eyes and menacing aura that Shadow Madd did.

"You're going to die today," the girl's doppelganger had said to her original self. "You're going to die, and our brother will waste his life searching for you. When he can't find you, his vengeance will be terrible, and I wouldn't want to be whoever's standing in his way."

"Who are you?" the girl had asked, sounding as confused and frightened as Alice was. "Why can I see you?" Her eyes were still closed, so that should have been impossible, unless the girl was seeing her doppelgänger in her mind's eye.

"I'm you... I'm your Shadow, the darkness in your heart," the doppelgänger smirked. "I've always been a part of you, the feelings of anger, sadness, and resentment that you try to ignore. You put on a cheerful front for our brother so that he doesn't worry about you, but deep down you can't forgive what was done to us or our mother." The girl's Shadow snarled. "More than that, you willfully blind yourself to what's going on around you, pretending that it doesn't affect you, or that you can't do anything about it! Will you continue to close your eyes? Do you like being a girl who can't even stand on her own? Or do you want to be free, to strike back, and hurt those who have hurt you?" The girl's Shadow laughed. "Maybe you'll even tell yourself that you want the power to protect others. I don't really care. That power is yours... if you give me what I want."

Surprisingly, Shadow Madd had done nothing to stop the girl's Shadow, staring at the scene in fascination.

"What do you want?" the girl asked.

"Accept me as a part of yourself, and unleash the anger boiling within you! In exchange, I shall give you the power to make your wishes come true."

"Brother..." the girl whispered. Alice could already see the girl's decision on her face. The girl was willing to do anything to find her way back to her brother, even if it was a deal with the devil.

The Shadow knew it as well. "If you agree, then you already know what to say. Open your eyes, and make this contract with me!"

The girl and her Shadow spoke in unison. "Rise up, fallen princess, and fight back! From this day forward, we are of one mind and body. I am thou... thou art I. Let the nightmare begin!"

There was a gust of wind from nowhere, and the girl's Shadow, laughing maniacally, burst into bright blue flames, which wrapped themselves around her other self. A red, bird-shaped mask materialized on the girl's face, while her clothes were replaced with a dark blue skintight suit. The blue flames spread down the girl's hair, but instead of burning it, they seemed to dye it blonde, just like her Shadow's. And then the girl began screaming, pulling at the mask as if it was searing into her skin. There was a spray of blood as she ripped it off, but then a vicious smile spread on the girl's face, and she opened her eyes, also the same as her Shadow's, as a fully-formed Persona, dressed in the regal gown of a queen, appeared above and behind her, bound to the girl by phantom blue chains.

"Finally, I'm free!" the girl shouted in exultation, rising to her feet on legs that just moments before were too weak to support her. Or was it the girl's Shadow, now possessing her? Throwing out a hand in front of her, the girl/her Shadow pointed at Shadow Madd, their voices seeming to overlap with each other. "Punish this bastard, Elizabeth!"

The ensuing fight had been very one-sided. The girl's Persona tore relentlessly into Shadow Madd's guards, hurling curse magic at them and weakening them with conjured poisons. Alice recalled watching in amazement at the girl's deadly grace, and feeling ashamed that she was now the one being protected by the girl. Shadow Madd had fled when he realized how badly the battle was going against his men. For all of his intimidating presence, Madd was clearly more of a bully than anything else, picking on those weaker than him and relying on others to act in his place instead of facing those who could actually threaten him back.

As soon as the fight had ended, the golden glow had faded from the girl's eyes, revealing their natural violet color. However, her hair stayed blonde, and her outfit similarly remained transformed. Alice remembered the girl looking around in disbelief, as if she had been taking in the world for the first time.

"No way... I did all of that?" the girl had whispered. "This has to be a dream."

Of course, it hadn't been a dream, but in any case the girl had agreed to help them, introducing herself as Nunnally Lamperouge. According to her account, she had been at the hospital for one of her regularly-scheduled appointments, and had taken out her phone to listen to some music while she waited, when she heard a commotion outside. A rather nasty-sounding man, whom the staff had addressed as Colonel Madd, had started barking orders to search for fugitives of some kind, and demanding to know why they hadn't produced more 'candidates', to which the doctors had protested that they ran a hospital, not a factory. Nunnally hadn't had the slightest idea what sort of candidates they were talking about, but Madd had frightened her, and she found herself wanting to hide. Before she knew it, something had changed in the air around her. She hadn't been able to see, but she had sensed that she wasn't in her hospital room anymore, and had begun trying to find her way back when she ran into them.

From that moment on, Nunnally had effectively taken over the group that would soon become known as the Irregulars, at least in the field. While Nunnally wasn't a fellow Code-R escapee, it had been a purely pragmatic decision on Sancia's part to yield her command to the newcomer. Nunnally knew the way back, retracing her path through the factory, and was the only one among them who had a fully manifested Persona, making her their strongest combat asset. That was true even before Nunnally started capturing enemy Shadows and absorbing them into her mask as new Personas for her to wield. Nunnally had the best grasp of her own abilities, and if Sancia knew that if she tried to give Nunnally orders, she would just get in the way.

Nunnally could have gone her own way once they managed to return to the real world, but she wanted to keep helping them. Her motives hadn't been entirely altruistic. Even if Madd hadn't been constructing a new Code-R facility under her hospital, his interest in it and the tests that he was having the staff run in his search for those with "potential" was a major problem for her. Sooner or later, the real Madd would either discover her potential or pull patient records and perhaps notice certain inconsistencies in her file, leading him to discover her secret and that of her brother.

It was clear that Nunnally admired her brother in more than just a typical sibling way, and more than a teenage girl would ever admit, but Nunnally chose to keep him in the dark, knowing that he wouldn't approve of her new activities in the Metaverse. Nunnally became flustered when Dalque asked her one day, "Is it just me or is 'Onii-sama' the Japanese word for one's boyfriend? Because it sounds that way when you say it, Nemo," promptly denying it and telling Dalque that it was just a respectful term for an esteemed older brother. It was a line of conversation that Alice hadn't been at all amused by, feeling pangs of jealousy at the closeness of Nunnally's bond with her brother.

Ironically enough, Nunnally had ended up following her brother's example when she put together the plan to steal Madd's heart. She strongly disapproved of the idea of using the Metaverse to murder Madd, and got upset when Clovis' death was brought up, tearfully saying that even with everything he had done, he didn't deserve to die that way. But she knew from the example of her former gym teacher that it was possible to change someone's heart without killing them. The only push she needed was Shadow Madd's paranoid speculation that they were in his Palace to steal his "Treasure", and clarification of the term in a place that she referred to as the "Velvet Room". Alice couldn't fully appreciate what Nunnally meant, as she had no way to experience Nunnally's Velvet Room firsthand, but she had come to recognize that Nunnally's power was fundamentally different from theirs, and so she accepted it.

While none of them would ever match Nunnally's unique abilities, one by one the other Irregulars began to awaken to their true powers in Madd's Palace. It wasn't something that could be forced, the circumstances varying between individual members, though usually a confrontation with Shadow Madd and his minions was involved. Life-or-death situations really had a way of forcing one to recognize what was truly important to them, and that brought with it renewed determination to rebel against Madd's attempts to control them, which was what seemed to give true form to their Personas.

Alice's Persona took the form of Bradamante, the fierce female knight from medieval epic poems who had rebelled against the notions of a mere damsel in distress by undertaking a quest to save her loved one, as well as beating down anyone stupid enough to stand in her way. While Alice doubted that Bradamante had ever appeared that way in the original poems, her Persona took on it's summoner's blonde twintails, but they were far longer, perhaps in reflection of how she admired Nunnally's hair. Bradamante was garbed in white and blue, with golden epaulettes, tassets, and greaves, and a long, padded skirt wrapping around her legs and providing a measure of additional protection, while remaining loose enough to permit a high degree of mobility. Extremely swift with her lance, and equipped with a brilliantly shining shield, Bradamante was born from Alice's deep desire to always be there to protect Nunnally.

Their leader remained frighteningly capable in battle as Nemo, sometimes even entering a berserker state in which her eyes would have a golden glow. This enabled Nunnally to perform acts of violence upon Shadows that she normally would have no stomach for, and sometimes led to her using cruder language that one wouldn't imagine coming from a girl as sweet as Nunnally. Alice strongly suspected that this was part of the deal Nunnally had made with her Shadow. Most of the time, it stayed on a tight leash, and functioned as Nunnally's Persona, presenting a more acceptable front to the world. But there were times when it seemed that Nunnally allowed her Shadow to temporarily take over the body that they shared and fight in her stead without being held back. The Shadow's eyes also had a habit of flaring up in the Metaverse when Nunnally was particularly angry, as had happened when her brother had discovered her secret and suggested that she stop visiting the Metaverse. Mao was lucky that Nunnally had held her Shadow in check during their brief encounter, likely not wanting her brother to see that side of her. It was a far more sadistic personality, and while Nunnally had never killed a real person even in that state, there was a chance that she would have made an exception for Mao if she had let her Shadow take the reins. If she had it would have most assuredly been an especially painful death for him.

But in the real world, Nunnally remained startlingly vulnerable. She had ultimately regained her vision, but she could only use her legs in the Metaverse, and that was a major reason that Alice had accepted Nunnally's invitation to attend her school, so that she could stay close to her at all times. Nunnally already had a bodyguard in Sayoko, but Sayoko didn't have a Persona, and with Mao still on the loose at the time, Alice hadn't wanted to leave anything to chance.

Still, Alice was grateful for the opportunity to learn and pretend to have a normal life as a student. She should have been hopelessly behind, and her grades weren't great by any means, but part of Code-R's research had been mental enhancement to prepare its subjects for the strain of receiving new Personas, which meant that she could process new information quickly, something that was also invaluable when fighting at high speed. However, those same experiments had also messed with her head so much that she was no longer entirely sure what her original surname had been, so she had to pick a new one for herself when applying to Ashford Academy. Ever since escaping to the Metaverse and stumbling into Madd's Palace, Alice felt like she had fallen down the rabbit hole into a dark Wonderland, so she had taken the surname Liddell, after the namesake of the famous literary character.

As for the other Irregulars, Dalque's Persona was the pirate Anne Bonny, perhaps reflecting her distaste for any sort of rules. Sancia's other self manifested as Cynane, the half-sister of Alexander the Great, who had led a third of his armies. Lucretia's Persona became Lucia, the martyr who had been named the patron saint of the blind, and whose blessings were invoked against a number of afflictions. There had been a lively discussion regarding Lucretia's code name, including the suggestion of Oracle, but Lucretia, humble as ever, had politely declined, saying that it made her feel awkward to have such a title. She had then proposed the codename "Land" for herself, in reference to how her Persona would enable them to get a sense of the lay of the land within a Palace.

As each of them awakened to their true Personas, their symptoms began to vanish, without the need for further treatment, and soon even Lucretia had regained her strength. It was clear now that their sickness had been a result of their previously improperly induced Personas. With new vigor, they had stormed Madd's Palace after Nunnally left a calling card at the hospital. It was fortunate that the real Colonel Madd didn't know what his Shadow did, or she wouldn't have been to do so, but the fact that he hadn't come to arrest Nunnally and bring her in for experimentation after her initial awakening had been all the reassurance they needed.

Madd's cybernetic Shadow had put up a fierce fight, transforming into an even larger mechanical form that could barely qualify as remotely human, but he had been defeated. Madd was still raving about why they couldn't see the potential of his work, and how it would help so many people, but Nunnally had harsh words for him.

"You never cared about other people. If you truly wanted to help people, you wouldn't have tortured my friends and murdered countless others. You could have helped many, but you only cared about yourself!"

"Code-R started with the best of intentions, simply trying to unlock the secrets of the human mind," the defeated Shadow Madd had sighed. "But men like me wanted it to be something more ambitious. Our proposals gained the support of Prince Clovis, and from there, the project took on a life of its own. Now I see it was misguided from the start. There was no way that artificial Personas could ever beat the real thing. I wanted to be like a god, but you've punished me for that hubris."

That only earned Shadow Madd another tongue-lashing for not showing any remorse for his victims, just the failure of his project. That of course would change, once they had taken his Treasure.

It was disappointing that Madd hadn't confessed directly to the media. As another of the masterminds of Code-R, his testimony could have done tremendous damage to Britannia's Cognitive Psience research. As it was, there was simply the mention that his heart had been changed by a group calling itself the Irregulars, which was immediately overshadowed when the Black Knights changed the heart of the Black King. Even the hospital had managed to keep itself out of the news, as their calling card would have been damaging to its reputation. But with Clovis's death, the subsequent murders of most of Code-R's leading researchers, including Joesph Fenette, by an unknown assailant, now believed to be one of the Black Masks, and Madd's change of heart, Code-R was finally finished.

They had never found out what really happened to Madd after he turned himself in. Officially, he had been reprimanded, demoted, and reassigned, but the Irregulars didn't believe that for a second. Most of them were of the opinion that Madd had been quietly killed or else his new assignment was serving as a guinea pig for Britannia's broader research into Cognitive Psience, if whoever was directing that effort was feeling particularly vindictive.

Shaking her head, Alice brought herself back to the present. Code-R had made use of human traffickers; that was how Mao and many other victims had ended up in the program. Of course, reprehensible as they were, not all traffickers were involved in Code-R, though the Irregulars took pleasure in changing their hearts all the same. But there was a particular trafficking ring that they were pursuing now, the same one that was likely responsible for Mao's kidnapping. It had long operated between China and Area 11, and during the days of Code-R, it had been bringing people into Area 11. But now, if their information was correct, victims were flowing the other way, kidnapped from the ghettos around Tokyo and shipped to an undisclosed location in China.

Alice knew that Nunnally hadn't mentioned their lead to Lelouch yet, but it wasn't that their leader was trying to keep it a secret from him. Nunnally knew that her brother was busy trying to infiltrate High Eunuch Gao Hai's Palace at the Chinese Federation Consulate. She didn't want to distract him with an unconfirmed lead, especially when it was something that the Irregulars could handle on their own. But if it did prove to be something more, Nunnally would tell him.

They found their way to the Distortion where the ringleader of the traffickers, or rather, his Shadow, waited for them. They knew his type well, and were ready for him. Nunnally deftly changed from Persona to Persona, ensuring that the Irregulars always had the upper hand, and finished the battle by letting entering her berserker state and letting him taste her unleashed fury. They had him on his knees, begging them not to let the scary girl hurt him. It would have seemed pathetic, a grown man being so utterly terrified of a fourteen-year old girl, but one never messed with Nunnally when she had her Shadow's eyes if they knew what was good for them.

"Where have you been taking those people?" Nunnally demanded, blonde hair waving behind her in the wind created by her Persona, hovering threateningly over the trafficker's Shadow.

"Northwestern China, near the Taklamakan Desert," the trafficker's Shadow spluttered, anxiously eyeing Nunnally's Persona. "They always have someone pick them up before we get too close, but there has to be some large facility there if they need that many subjects."

"Subjects?" Nunnally pressed, golden eyes flaring. "I notice that you didn't say 'slaves'. So that facility is involved in the same sort of research that Prince Clovis was?"

"I don't know!" the trafficker's Shadow cried. "I knew not to ask those questions!"

"Is it a Britannian facility?" Sancta asked.

"Yes," the trafficker's Shadow nodded.

"But there's no way Britannia could construct such a large facility there unless-" Lucretia started.

"Unless they did so with the knowledge of the Chinese Federation," Sancia finished. "And you must have paid someone off if you're regularly transporting such large numbers of people between Area 11 and China. What do you say about that?"

"The Consul-General looks the other way if they receive a cut of the profits and deals with local officials for us."

The Irregulars froze. That personally tied Gao Hai, the Black Knights' current target, to Britannia's ongoing Cognitive Psience research programs. While it was possible that the High Eunuchs made deals behind each others' backs, if the facility was as large as the volume of trafficking suggested, it would likely be something that they were all aware of and intending to profit from through their relationship with Britannia. Schneizel's marriage treaty between the Empress and Prince Odysseyus was only the next step in solidifying that alliance.

"You really shouldn't have said that," a distorted voice said from behind them. "I may have let you live had I not heard that. Now you've left me with no choice but to eliminate you."

The Irregulars whirled to face the new threat, and Alice felt her blood run cold. There was a short young man dressed in what looked like noble attire, with a black vest and high military-style boots over a while undershirt and pants. A light blue cravat was tucked into the shirt, and a black cloak with golden epaulettes, lined in red and with a high collar, was draped around him. But what really frightened her was the expressionless black mask that covered the entirety of his face, revealing only the brown hair on his head.

This was the second Black Mask, the one that the Black Mask whom she had encountered with Nunnally underneath Ashford Academy had spoken of. He had been telling the truth! But it was too confusing to think of them in that way. Alice resolved that she would think of the one they had encountered before as Black Armor, and the assassin in front of them now as Black Mask, though really she had more important things to be worrying about, since at that moment Black Mask pulled out a gun and fired. The trafficker's Shadow let out a pained gasp, blood leaking from his chest, and then burst into dark wisps and vanished.

"Another victim of a mental shutdown," Black Mask murmured. Her turned to them. The Irregulars, I presume," he said amiably, as if he hadn't just casually murdered a man. Nor did he seem bothered by the fact that with the Shadow that had created it killed, the Distortion would likely collapse within minutes. Alice didn't want to think about what would happen if they were still trapped inside at that time.

"Does killing a man like that really mean nothing to you?" Nunnally demanded, trying to sound strong but clearly frightened, shocked back into her regular self by the horror of what she had just seen. "Do you even know how many people you've killed?"

"I can't remember how many people I've killed," Black Mask replied. "Nobody counts how many times they brush their teeth or eat a meal - same with this. But by your reactions," Black Mask continued, "I see that you know of me. You probably also realize that I have instructions to kill you, should the opportunity present itself." There was no malice in his words, which made him all the more unsettling.

"Oh yeah, we've heard of you!" Dalque replied, firing herself up. "I've been itching for a good fight!"

"Whether or not it is a good fight is irrelevant to my mission," Black Mask replied, though there was a hint of wry amusement in his voice. "All of you will die, and that will be the end of it."

"Do you really think you can take on all of us at once?" Dalque asked incredulously.

"Wait, Power, he's-" Lucretia began.

"I don't think," Black Mask replied. "I can." He reached for his mask and let out a cry. "Loki!"

Red flames wreathed Black Mask, preventing them from seeing his face, while his Persona rose behind him, a horned bipedal creature, striped like a zebra but far more dizzying to look at, with long red braids, hoof-like feet, and a long orange-red sword in its hands. None of them needed Lucretia to tell them that Loki was far more powerful than any of their individual Personas. They could feel it.

"We need to get him off balance," Nunnally said, steeling herself for what had to be done. "Then we run."

"Of course," Sancia nodded.

"Don't think that it will be easy!" Black Mask shouted. Loki swirled its blade in its hands, and black tendrils, seeming like a multitude of hands, shot from the ground, striking them repeatedly. They barely weathered the assault.

Nunnally issued orders. "Land, heal us! Everyone else, with me!" She grasped her own mask. "Shiki-Ouji!" It was a Persona that her brother had recommended to her, and it would protect her if Black Mask tried that attack again.

The voices of the other Irregulars chorused after hers as they summoned their own Personas.

"Bradamante!"

"Anne Bonny!"

"Cynane!"

"Lucia!"

Lucretia began casting Mediarama, a strong healing spell, while Alice cast Masukukaja, increasing the speed of all of the other Irregulars. Against an opponent like this, they couldn't afford to be hit. Sancia cast Bufula, conjuring ice crystals around Loki and its summoner, while Nunnally and Dalque rushed in toward Black Mask, each coming in on opposite sides. Nunnally let out a battle cry as she unleashed her other self once again, fiercely attacking Black Mask, but Loki was fast, and not only fended her off, but spun around to strike Anne Bonny as she tried to dive-bomb him, sending Dalque's Persona flying back and causing Dalque herself to double over in pain.

"Power, fall back and support!" Nunnally shouted.

Black Mask, seizing upon Nunnally's moment of distraction as she was focused on her teammates, leveled his gun at her and fired. With Shiki-Ouji as her Persona, she was in no real danger from his shot, the bullet stopping harmlessly inches away from her as it instead struck the wards upon her, which might as well have been an impenetrable wall. But seeing Black Mask very directly try to kill her friend filled Alice with fury.

"You'll pay for that! Bradamante!"

Moving at blinding speed, and with its offensive power further increased by Dalque's timely casting of Matarukaja, Alice's Persona charged Black Mask, spear in hand. Nunnally was quite understandably pissed as well, prompting another flurry of berserker strikes, though they seemed to do little to faze Black Mask. Alice couldn't see his expression, but if she had to guess, she would say that he was bored.

"It's time we end this," Black Mask announced. "Loki. Megidolaon."

Following his instructions, Loki began drawing in massive amounts of energy. Shiki-Ouji would do nothing to protect Nunnally against that, and it was clear that Black Mask intended to wipe the rest of them out too with Loki's coming spell. Alice knew that she had only one chance, and hoped Bradamante's aim would be true.

Bradamante hurled her spear, impaling Loki in the side. As they would say, a critical hit! Black Mask gasped, blood suddenly staining his undershirt, and the energy that Loki had been gathering dissipated harmlessly.

"This is our chance!" Lucretia cried.

"I know!" Nunnally shouted. "Everyone, retreat!"

They rushed past Black Mask before he could recover, out through the Distortion's portal and back into Mementos.

"Why didn't we just kill him when he had the chance and be done with it?" Dalque complained. "It's going to be like your brother and Mao all over again!"

"No," Sancia said. "Didn't you see, Power? He had barely begun to fight in earnest. He was toying with us. Speed dealt him a serious blow, yes, but cornered beasts are most dangerous... as he found out to his cost, if I may add. It was best to get away while we still could."

"I'm just glad that everyone's safe," Nunnally sighed, once again her normal self.

"There's no time to rest yet," Lucretia said frantically. "I'm sensing Loki coming after us through the tunnels, and quickly!"

"Seriously?!" Dalque whined. "This guy is really starting to tick me off!"

"We got lucky, thanks to Speed," Nunnally frowned, "but our chances at beating him in a fight are low at best. We need more time." A strange look passed over her face. "Land... do you sense The Reaper in our vicinity?"

"It's still some ways off," Lucretia hastily replied, "but-"

"Lead us toward it."

"Wait, Nemo, you can't-"

"That's a stunt your brother would pull!" Alice objected. "You really picked the wrong time to have him rub off on you, Nemo!"

"We can't win a fight with The Reaper, he probably can't either. As far as we can tell, he doesn't have an ability like yours, Land. We'll be able to see it coming! He won't!"

"A desperate strategy," Sancia sighed. "But I don't see any other option left to us."

In the end, it was far closer than any of them would have liked, but they successfully lured Black Mask into The Reaper's path, leaving the assassin to fight for his life while they made their escape.

"Land..." Nunnally asked at the entrance of Mementos, worry on her face. "Did he..." Her words trailed off, but Alice knew that leaving Black Mask to face almost certain death like that was weighing heavily on her conscience, even though he had tried to kill her not long ago, and had very likely been the one to kill her half-brother Clovis, whom she had once been close to, in spite of the monster he had become.

"I can't sense Loki or his summoner at all," Land replied softly. "But we're well out of range at this point. There's no way to know."

Nunnally nodded, and thanked her, but it was clear that Land's words were of no comfort to her as guilt gnawed away at her. She was convinced that she was as good as a murderer now.

Alice put a hand over Nunnally's shoulder. "I'm not going to say that it gets easier, Nemo. But why beat yourself up over it when you don't know for sure?"

Nunnally took several shallow breaths. "It's worse because I don't know for sure."

"You saw how strong that guy was," Alice continued. "Besides, his Persona was Loki, the god of trickery! If there's anyone with a Persona who could pull a fast one and make it look like he had died, it would be him!"

"I hope you're right," Nunnally sighed. She looked up. "We need to tell my brother what happened here today. About the Black Mask... and about what they're doing in China."

 **A/N:**

 **It's been over two weeks. I never intended it to take so long to finish the interlude, which turned out to be a full chapter in length by itself, but it underwent multiple rewrites, and I was out for several days in the middle of it.**

 **The idea from this interlude arose from the fact that I hadn't really done much with the Irregulars after introducing them to the story. It was an opportunity for a belated backstory, but I also wanted it to advance the main plot as well, hence the encounter with Black Mask at the end. I used Alice's POV through most of the chapter, as it seemed an interesting perspective on events that would allow a fuller account of what happened before the Irregulars met Nunnally.**

 **Nunnally's relationship with her Shadow was based on her relationship with Nemo in Nightmare of Nunnally, who was pretty much her superpowered evil side. It's also known that Shadows can become Personas, and vice versa, and in P4 Adachi was able to use his Persona, even while it was heavily implied he was possessed by his Shadow. And yes, Nemo is considerably more vicious in Nightmare of Nunnally than Nunnally herself is, and uses language like "bastards". The way Nemo describes herself pretty explicitly makes her the equivalent of Nunnally's Shadow, being all of Nunnally's repressed rage and resentment.**

 **As for the Irregular's Arcanas, if anyone wants to know them, here they are:**

 **Nunnally Lamperogue, "Nemo" - Fool, Elizabeth III**

 **Lucretia, "Land" - Priestess, Lucia**

 **Sancia, "Order" - Empress, Cynane**

 **Alice, "Speed" - Lovers, Bradamante**

 **Dalque, "Power" - Chariot, Anne Bonny**

 **Thanks to my beta readers for the suggestions regarding the Irregular's Personas. Technically, there are no poison skills in Persona 5 (though there are in Persona 4), but I felt that Eizabeth the III would have them (much to Nunnally's displeasure) based on the stories told about her in-universe. Elizabeth III is also Curse-aligned, as a parallel to Lelouch's initial Persona, and her ill-fated status as the last monarch of the British Islands.**

 **One last note about the Irregulars. Their nationalities are never explicitly stated, although in canon they were Honorary Britannians, implying that they were from the various areas. Alice, Lucretia, and Sancia all have distinctly European names and appearances, but Britannia hadn't conquered parts of mainland Europe in R1, so I chose Areas for them that were former European colonies in North America. Dalque's darker complexion suggested that she was from a region that was closer to the equator, and of the territories that Britannia holds, that meant South America.**

 **And with that lengthy author's note included, this actually becomes the longest chapter on record. Anyways, with any luck the next one won't take so long. However, work will be picking up again in another week or so, and my updating pace will probably slow to every 1-2 weeks, minimum (though last year, I rarely took longer than 3 weeks), so don't get anxious. I've already come this far and have no intention of stopping now.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**


	54. Invitation to the Forbidden City

"You're telling me that you ran into the other Black Mask?" Lelouch asked in rising horror. "And not only that, you intentionally approached The Reaper of all things so that you could escape from him? Nunnally, I know that you're capable of taking care of yourself in there, and that you were leading the Irregulars well before I ever knew of them, but do you have any idea how dangerous The Reaper is? It almost killed Kallen, Milly, Arthur, and myself once, we lost our old Cognitive Glasgow to it, and it didn't die even after being run over by a train! I wouldn't have had to resort to that video if I didn't need a way for the Black Knights to move quickly enough through Mementos so we wouldn't risk running into that thing!"

"I know, Onii-sama," Nunnally said, still sobbing as she had been since coming back to their quarters in the Clubhouse, "but I couldn't think of any other way. And now-!"

Lelouch wrapped his arms comfortingly around his little sister. "You did what you had to, Nunnally. In your position, I can't say that I wouldn't have come up with a plan any less crazy than yours. As for that Black Mask... don't assume that he's dead if you haven't seen his body. Medjed came back from what should have been a certain drowning, thanks to his Persona and implants. Until we have evidence otherwise, we have to operate under the assumption that both Black Masks, or Black Mask and Black Armor, as you said the Irregulars have started to call them, are alive. And I think we may know sooner in Black Mask's case rather than later..."

"Big brother..." Nunnally whispered, looking up. "You know who Black Mask is?"

"I've naturally been keeping a short list of suspects, and your description of the Black Mask's general build narrows it greatly," he replied. "One suspect stands out to me above the others though."

He whispered something to Nunnally.

Nunnally let out a small gasp. "Do you really think it's-"

"Short of capturing him and forcibly removing his mask, there's no way to be sure. With our combined numbers, we could probably pull him into the Metaverse, ambush, and overwhelm him, but it would be very risky, and if he is Black Mask we'd then be forced to kill him. You made the right call in retreating when you did, but if we're going that far, there's too much risk in not finishing the job there and then. But if he's not Black Mask, then we'd have given ourselves away as Black Knights and Irregulars."

Nunnally frowned. He could see that neither option was desirable to her.

"And Black Armor?" she asked. "Do you have any idea who he is?"

It was Lelouch's turn to frown. "He's taller than Black Mask, and he was following Medjed, but there's still too much that we don't know." He wasn't entirely without leads, but he didn't want to name someone on such flimsy evidence. It almost felt as if the mere act of doing so would make it true, irrational as it was.

"What do we do, Onii-sama?" Nunnally asked anxiously.

"I'm already working on a contingency plan," he reassured her. "The most important thing is to continue acting naturally for now. If we act prematurely or show our suspicions, we'll alert whoever they're working for, and they'll likely move to arrest all of us. We have to pretend that we know less than we do for now and bide our time, until we find the right chance to strike. I'm sure that's a lesson you already know well," he said, giving her a meaningful look as he briefly touched his nose and moved his finger along its length, as if to scratch it, though the gesture carried greater significance. "That's why I always tried to keep a low profile. Even in our family, there are those who would seek to use us even while claiming to help us, and the stakes are far higher here."

Nunnally nodded. It seemed she understood his meaning.

"Even if we were to succeed at killing Black Mask, doing so would tip off his employers that we were onto them, unless we could make it look like an accident... and I doubt they'd believe that, with how thorough they've been in killing anyone who could reveal the true extent of Britannia's Cognitive Psience research to the public. Even if they don't have us executed, there's a chance that they would try to have us replace Black Mask as their pawns, and we'd scarcely be better off."

Nunnally frowned.

"The other thing is to make sure that you are never alone with anyone who might be Black Mask or Black Armor. They could pull you into the Metaverse, but I doubt that they'll try it if there are too many witnesses around. That goes for all of us." Medjed had already proved how easily it could be done with Shirley and Nunnally, and his little sister had been a fully-fledged Persona-User at the time too. All of his friends were in danger of being kidnapped and murdered by the assassins behind the mental shutdown at any time, and that thought terrified Lelouch, though he didn't show it, as he had to be strong for her sake. "Remain vigilant at all times."

"I'll be careful," Nunnally replied firmly. It occurred to Lelouch that she was likely trying to project the same sort of strength that he was. Nunnally had come to him crying and looking for his support as her big brother, but now she had shifted into her role as the leader of the Irregulars.

"That's all I ask, Nunnally." He paused for a moment. "Now that we've got that settled, I'm curious to know what you and the other Irregulars plan to do now that you've discovered a link between the Chinese Federation's leadership and Britannia's Cognitive Psience research."

"You already know that, brother," she said, fierce determination in her eyes. "As long as Gao Hai is the Consul-General here in Area 11, he'll continue to give cover to other traffickers. No matter how many of their hearts we change, it seems like there are still more of them. But if he confesses and Cornelia finds out who he's been helping under her nose... She's far from a perfect Viceroy, but I can't see her having any tolerance for such despicable people!"

"You realize that if we steal Gao Hai's heart, our dear sister will be gunning for us; traffickers will be the least of her concern. Still, the resulting upheaval is likely to severely disrupt their operations."

"Just let me know when you're next infiltrating his Palace, brother. The Irregulars will be there."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 34.9%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 22**

xXx

The next day, the seven Black Knights and five Irregulars gathered outside the Forbidden City of Greed for their joint infiltration of the Palace, the first time all of the Persona-users in each group had been in one place since their meeting in Mementos. With so many Persona-users united in a common purpose, fighting their way through Gao Hai's Palace would be easier than before. If Lanchester's Laws held, they could expect their overall combat strength to more than double when together. Technically, this estimate ignored the fact that Land was not a combatant herself, but her Persona could improve the effectiveness of the rest of them in battle, and freed Bishop to spend more time fighting and less time on navigation, so Lelouch felt that it balanced out.

Of course, infiltrating the Palace with such a large team posed its own challenges as well. Lelouch knew that keeping the Black Knights as a single group had ensured that none of them could be isolated and picked off by Shadows, but it had also necessitated more fights, since it was much more difficult for seven people to slip by the enemy unseen as opposed to when there had only been four Black Knights. Now, with the Irregulars joining them in the infiltration, they had a total of twelve Persona-users. Moving that many through the Palace as a single unit would make it almost impossible to proceed without drawing the Palace Ruler's attention.

Three groups of four would have been the ideal compromise between combat effectiveness and stealthiness, but Lelouch and Nunnally had come to the conclusion that they could only safely maintain two squads of Persona-users, as each needed a Wild Card wielder to be able to adapt to whatever enemies they encountered, as well as a dedicated navigator. These squads would for the most part correspond to the Black Knights and the Irregulars, though the Black Knights would have one of their members join the Irregulars' squad on a rotating basis to even out their numbers and fill in gaps in their abilities as needed. As for operational leadership, Nunnally still asserted the Irregular's independence, but deferred to him for now, saying that the infiltration had been the Black Knights' to begin with.

They made good time through the outlying city. The two groups used the telepathic abilities of their navigators to stay in close proximity to each other and coordinate their efforts, so that they could quickly come together to face larger threats. They also alternated between taking point, with one group taking out any Shadows blocking the path ahead, while the other followed behind them, given a chance to rest but also ready to serve as a rear guard. In this manner, both groups managed to conserve much of their strength while preventing the alert from being raised.

Seeing his little sister in battle against Shadows for the first time, Lelouch couldn't help but feel worried about her recklessness. There were times when she seemed to go berserk against the enemy, and to his shock Nunnally dispatched them with sadistic glee. Even more concerning was Leila's report that Nunnally's aura changed to be almost indistinguishable from that of a Shadow whenever it happened.

Nunnally had mentioned something about making a deal with her other self, but Lelouch hadn't thought much of it at first, believing it was much like how he had made a contract with a mysterious voice and Arsene, who in all likelihood had once been his own Shadow Self. He knew all too well feelings of bloodlust in battle, the joy of outmaneuvering his enemies and ravaging them with his Persona, how liberating it felt to be able to strike back against Britannia when he had been powerless for far too long. In his first battle, Arsene had even told him to "run wild to your heart's content," which was very much something that a Shadow would say.

For the most part, he had remained in control of his other selves. Lilim had briefly managed to give him that dream against his conscious will, but she was still cooling her heels in Lockdown. But Nunnally surrendered control, becoming an extension of her Shadow in the heat of battle, and that was exceedingly dangerous. Coach Nu had shown him firsthand what happened when one became possessed by their Shadow.

He had speculated on it at the time, but Jeremiah's testimony showed how drastically Villetta's personality had changed following possession by her Shadow. Thinking back, Lelouch had even seen some of those changes occur, though he hadn't realized their significance at the time. Villetta had been strict even when she first arrived at Ashford Academy, and was still a bigot, but not much worse than a typical Britannian. Yet she had grown tyrannical, abusive, and virulently racist, especially after the SSDF was founded, allowing her to take over Ashford Academy with surprising speed. That was probably around the time that her Palace formed, allowing her Shadow to overtake her and act without restraint.

Thankfully, it seemed that Nunnally hadn't let her Shadow control her in the real world. As he continued to observe, he saw that Nunnally was consistently able to return to her normal self after battle. Still, there was always the risk that her Shadow Self could become too powerful for Nunnally to control at all, especially if she was in the habit of letting it run unchecked. He was sure that she already understood the risks of what she was doing, and there was no denying its utility in the Metaverse, but he'd be irresponsible as her brother if he didn't talk to her about it later. Then again, he could expect her to berate him in turn for knowingly summoning Personas that were well above what could be considered a safe level of power through Shi and Tsu's "special treatment", which carried just as much risk of going out of control should his will to master them waver.

Still, the fact that Nunnally had such a violent and vengeful side to her, especially one that was so strong, was disconcerting, but it made sense as he gave it more thought. No one would be happy about losing their mother, legs, vision, and being exiled to a foreign country, but Nunnally had put forward a front that had been as cheerful and forgiving as possible under the circumstances. They had only had the hope of revenge and each other left, and she hadn't wanted to lose him to the former, so she had forsaken her own desire to avenge their mother, lest she push him down a path that would take him away from her. But in repressing those desires, they had become part of her Shadow, and they had been ignored for so long they had returned with a vengeance when she finally unleashed it.

Outside of battle, the Black Knights and Irregulars seemed to be getting along well, especially when they had a chance to rest in one of the Palaces' safe rooms. Nunnally and Alice were already very well-acquainted with Arthur, who was a minor celebrity on campus as the Student Council's pet as far as the rest of Ashford Academy's student body was concerned, but Land seemed rather fond of him as well, and even Power seemed interested in petting him. However, Power proved to be a bit too enthusiastic, and afterwards Arthur had complained that her petting had been more like "button mashing".

As for her part, Nunnally seemed to regret that she hadn't been the first to meet Arthur in the Metaverse. She said that he would have been perfect as one of the talking animal characters who would guide teams of magical girls in the old anime that used to air before the war. After all, weren't she and the other Irregulars magical girls in a sense, now that they wielded supernatural powers in the Metaverse? Even their clothes magically transformed whenever they entered the Metaverse.

Lelouch moved to cut off that line of conversation quickly. Milly had started listening eagerly, showing an unhealthy degree of interest in magical girls and their costumes. If they weren't careful, she would be dressing Nunnally and Alice up before long. No, Nunnally would probably enjoy dressing up as a magical girl. But Milly was hardly one to do things halfway. The real danger was that she'd make the other girls on the Student Council dress up as magical girls as well, or worse, order the guys to do so.

He was glad when they were back to the infiltration, granting them a temporary reprieve from Milly's antics.

The Black Knights and Irregulars soon reached the guardian lion statues at the wall surrounding the inner Palace complex. The guardians were thankfully still inert. Clambering up the statues' backs, the Black Knights used the grappling hooks that they had procured for the occasion, tossing them over the walls, shimmying up along the ropes affixed to them them, and dropping down on the other side. The Irregulars followed suit.

Taking their bearings, they saw that the surfaces of every building in the inner complex were gilded, reflecting light like countless mirrors, and if the sky had been brighter the effect would have been blinding. The vast network of canals that had dominated the outer complex was gone, replaced by a pair of moats, crisscrossed by causeways, with the innermost Palace beyond them, raised on a series of steps and surrounded by greenery.

Lelouch immediately saw that the layout of the inner complex posed a problem for them. Compared to the city that they had navigated before, the inner complex was much more open, leaving them with few hiding places. The main boulevard, directly along the city's central axis, seemed particularly well-guarded, and was flanked by two guard towers, which cast very anachronistic floodlights across their surroundings. There were two smaller causeways on the sides that they could use, but each was within the area swept out by one of the guard towers. He ruled out swimming immediately. Who knew what Shadows lurked in the depths? Another option was to use their grappling hooks to climb back up onto the wall, circle around, and drop down on the other side of the causeway. However, there were too many Shadows patrolling the walls that might see them, so Lelouch rejected that plan. It would have to be the side causeways.

After spending a few minutes silently observing the pattern of the floodlights, Lelouch felt that he had a good feel for their timing. With how Cognition worked in Palaces, he could be reasonably sure that they could avoid detection as long as they stayed out of the area illuminated by the floodlights. However, speed would be of the essence. The floodlight would complete its sweep before long and there was no cover on the causeway itself. Leila and Land also confirmed several lesser aerial Shadows patrolling back and forth, in paths perpendicular to the causeway. Each Shadow had a relatively narrow range of vision that did not extend to the next patrol, so the Black Knights and Irregulars could proceed when the guards' backs were turned.

"Is everyone ready?" he asked.

They all nodded back.

"Then let's go!"

It was fortunate that Arsene was a particularly fast Persona, and that some of Arsene's agility became his own in the Metaverse, as there was no way he could have ever run so quickly in the real world, even after training with Sayoko. Still, Kallen put him to shame, and Alice proved how apt the codename Speed was for her, moving across the causeway in a blur, quickly outpacing Kallen.

The two girls apparently decided that waiting for the Shadows ahead to turn their backs was wholly unnecessary, and used their Personas to eliminate the enemy at range. Blue lances of highly destructive nuclear energy fired from Guren Jigoku's outstretched hand, while gales of wind rushed from the tip of Bradamante's spear, the air glowing a vibrant green from the magic used to conjure them. The attention of the guards in the tower was still elsewhere, so they missed the spectacle, but the other Black Knights and Irregulars quietly watched in awe, even as they tried to keep up.

"Well, I guess that's one way to handle things," Shirley said, keeping pace with him, though with her natural talent as an athlete she could have easily overtaken him.

Lelouch felt a bit silly, thinking about how meticulously he had planned the timing to avoid fighting, only for Kallen and Alice to throw that out the window and effortlessly clear a path for the rest of them. Still he couldn't argue with their results, and he hadn't specifically told them not to engage the Shadows, so it would do little good to criticize them for taking initiative.

Reaching the end of the causeway, they stood at one end of a plaza, much like the ones at the real consulate, with the raised steps of the innermost Palace on the other side.

"Our objective is before us! Move along the periphery of the central plaza! Hide in the shadows of the walls, dispatch any enemies that draw too close, and secure a route forward!"

The central plaza wasn't as densely guarded as one would expect, perhaps because of the extent of the Palace's outer defenses, but this was compensated for by the presence of more powerful Shadows than those that had come before. The sickly birds that they now knew as the Zhen were replaced by August Roosters, majestic white birds with a yellow, flame-like mane around their necks, and long, vivid red-orange plumage streaming from their tails, making them superficially resemble the phoenixes of western mythology. Then there were the Insatiable Sheep, short creatures with stubby legs, black wool, and malicious human faces with red eyes, charging up to unleash powerful non-elemental magic if they were not eliminated quickly, which was made more difficult by the fact that they had no elemental weaknesses of their own to exploit.

But perhaps even more annoying were the Awakened Gods, Shadows that resembled floating sculptures made in the image of an obscure deity roughly humanoid in shape but with highly exaggerated proportions, bulbous lidded eyes, and a beak-like mouth. While their offensive abilities were limited, they would repel the force of direct or projectile attacks against them, and were immune to Arsene's and Elizabeth's curse magic and Maid Marian's bless spells. They were vulnerable both to Leila's psychokinetic spells and Guren Jigoku's nuclear fury, but if not destroyed immediately the Awakened Gods would erect barriers around themselves that would reflect spells back upon their casters.

Eventually, the last enemies blocking the way between them and the innermost Palace had been eliminated. Ascending the steps leading up to it, the Black Knights and Irregulars stood before the last gate. They had expected that they would have to fight another guardian, but they were wrong. The gate was completely unguarded, but it wouldn't budge at all, and was impervious to Kallen and Power's attempts to break it down.

"The gate is Cognitive in nature," Leila concluded. "Gao Hai considers the area within to be his inner sanctum, which probably corresponds the central complex of the real consulate, containing his personal offices and living quarters. We received a note granting us permission to enter the outer city, but that won't do here. It's like the Director's Office in Clovis' Palace. Nothing short of permission from the real Gao Hai himself will let us cross this threshold."

"As the Third Princess, I could try to arrange a diplomatic meeting with the Consul-General," Euphemia spoke up. "If I was to see him in the real consulate, that would count as permission, right?"

"That won't work, Noire," Lelouch replied. "Firstly, Cornelia will shut down the meeting the moment she gets wind of it. More to the point, it's unlikely that Gao Hai would agree to negotiate with you about anything. As the Sub-Viceroy, your powers in Area 11 only extend to domestic affairs; you have absolutely no bargaining authority on areas of foreign policy unless invested with that power by Schneizel or our father. As such you have nothing to offer Gao Hai. You may be able to secure his permission to tour the outer parts of the embassy, as a matter of cultural interest, and if you're exceedingly lucky he may deign to see you himself instead of sending a high-ranking functionary in his stead, but that won't get us further into the Palace."

Euphemia frowned. "You're right, Zero. In the real world, I'm seen as little more than a puppet princess, so why would Gao Hai care at all about what I have to say?"

"It goes without saying that the Black Knights will have to open the door," Order added. "As fugitives, we can't risk entering the embassy ourselves, especially since Gao Hai is involved with those who want us recaptured." The other Irregulars nodded in agreement.

"We have to think of something, brother!" Nunnally said, glaring hatefully at the gate. Her were golden, and it seemed she was letting her Shadow vent her frustrations.

"We will, Nemo," he said in a soothing voice, though privately he was just as disappointed. "But we clearly aren't going to get any further today, so we should head and rest while we plan our next move. Nothing can be gained by lingering here."

Nunnally nodded, and her eyes slowly returned to their normal violet color. "I understand, brother. We'll join you again when the path forward is open."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 34.6%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 21**

xXx

The conversation with Nunnally had gone far better than Lelouch had expected it to. It was difficult for him to criticize Nunnally for her own risky decisions when he was guilty of making plenty of his own, and such an approach seemed likely to draw out her Shadow. He had instead headed it off by acknowledging his own risk-taking from the start and simply expressed his concerns as her loving brother, emphasizing his continued support for her. On her part, Nunnally had apologized for not speaking more openly about her relationship with her Shadow, and that she had meant to tell him after their promise not to keep secrets from each other, but a good opportunity to do so hadn't presented itself, and he had never asked her about it until now.

Nunnally admitted to regularly conversing with her Shadow ever since it had revealed itself to her, much as she might with any of her Personas, though it remained a persistent part of her while other Personas came and went. As her Shadow was not a part of the real world, it was only visible within her mind's eye. Nunnally said that she had initially found it difficult to converse with her other self, not having a proper name to address her by, so early on she had asked her Shadow if it had a name of its own. Her Shadow had smirked and told her that it was Nunnally vi Britannia, but that if she wanted another name to call it by, she could use Nemo, meaning "no one", reflecting its own lack of reality outside of Nunnally's mind.

That Nunnally had adopted the Shadow's moniker as her own codename showed the extent to which she had accepted her Shadow, and even identified with it, but it was also fitting in that her appearance changed to that of her Shadow in the Metaverse. In that sense, his initial impression that the girl who had rescued him from Medjed might have been Nunnally's Shadow hadn't really been wrong at all.

Nunnally demurred when he asked what she talked with her Shadow/Nemo about, her cheeks becoming flushed as she asked if he really wanted to know. He quickly decided that he didn't want to press the matter further, especially when Nunnally would likely expect him to share some of his own embarrassing conversations with his Personas in turn.

While she kept the details to herself, Nunnally told him that Nemo had a mischievous streak. Her Shadow could be blunt at times, but it was often to make her recognize truths that she needed to hear. Indeed, her Shadow was even fiercely protective of her, even if that meant temporarily taking over her body to lay waste to any who dared threaten her.

Sheepishly, Nunnally added that Nemo had little interest in taking her over outside of the Metaverse. Nemo liked being doted on by her big brother and the other members of the Student Council, which the sweet persona of Nunnally Lamperouge was far more suited for.

Nunnally frowned, realizing how manipulative her admission made her sound, but Lelouch would never begrudge her that. "Lelouch Lamperouge" was just as much of a mask as "Nunnally Lamperouge" was, playing the role of an ideal older brother to Nunnally, and a friend to the other members of the Student Council. Everyone adopted masks, consciously or not, all seeking to fit into roles so they would be accepted by others, but if one wore a mask for long enough, might it become one's true face?

It was not in the nature of a Shadow to lie to their other self, however unpleasant their words might be. Their view of the world might be distorted, but it rarely contained outright falsehoods or fabrications. Therefore, Lelouch felt that he could trust that Nunnally was in no immediate danger from her Shadow, leaving him much reassured.

xXx

"We have a way in," Leila's voice said over the phone. "The Consul-General is holding a party at the end of the week, just before classes resume at Ashford Academy. Listen to what it says." She began reading. "While we regret that invitations to Her Imperial Majesty's marriage to His Royal Highness Odysseus eu Britannia in Luoyang are strictly limited, in the spirit of celebrating this momentous occasion, the historic bonds of trust between China and Britannia, and our future prosperity together, the Consul-General hereby invites you and a guest of your choosing to a pre-reception and masquerade ball at the Chinese Federation Consulate in the Tokyo Settlement. Further details are enclosed with your invitation. Signed, Consul-General to Area 11, Gao Hai."

"That's unusual," Lelouch replied. "Masquerade balls are hardly a Chinese tradition. I suppose it's a concession to Britannian sensibilities. They were very popular among the nobility in the last century before the loss of the British Islands, and the practice carried over to the new Homeland, though it's considered a bit old-fashioned now."

"I thought so as well," Leila replied. "I can confirm that the letter has been sent to other members of the Area nobility. I spoke to Kallen already, and her mother, Countess Stadtfeld, has been invited. Milly also reached out to me, and she's attending as Earl Asplund's guest. I haven't heard from Euphemia yet, but it's already known that she's scheduled to attend the main event in Luoyang with Viceroy Cornelia, and it's possible that they've been invited to the pre-reception as well."

"Cornelia has little interest in frivolity," Lelouch cut in, "and she'd only permit Euphemia to attend with a chaperone. Jeremiah has escorted Euphy before, and is a noble himself, so he's a likely choice, but there's a possibility that Cornelia might assign one of her own Knights to watch over her sister, if she feels that Jeremiah has permitted Euphy too much leeway in the past."

"There's a chance that the Second Prince, Prime Minister Schneizel, will be attending the pre-reception as well," Leila said softly.

Lelouch grimaced at the mention of the Second Prince, the half-brother who he feared and respected above all others, who he had never been able to beat at chess when he was younger. The pre-reception was an incredible opportunity for the Black Knights, one which had practically fallen into their laps, but if Schneizel was there, his mere presence would make attendance far more dangerous, and he could tell that Leila recognized that as well.

"Wouldn't being on the guest list be sufficient to get us past the gate in the Palace?" Leila asked.

"It likely would," Lelouch admitted. "But there may very well be more Cognitive barriers deeper in the Palace. Gao Hai's invitation will get us in the door, but I'm sure that we'll have to enter the real Consulate at some point if we're to reach his Treasure. If we don't attend the pre-reception who knows when another opportunity to do so will present itself?"

"We can test it," Leila suggested.

"Of course. We'll visit the Palace again in a few days and see if we can get any further, but you should make plans to RSVP the Consul-General's pre-reception in the meantime. That way we'll leave our options open."

It had of course occurred to Lelouch that discussing infiltration plans over the phone was a risky proposition - or it would have been, had he not taken appropriate precautions. There was a device that he had plugged into his phone, where the charger could normally go, shaped like a small gray box with an antenna on one end. In spite of its unimpressive appearance, it was actually a top-of-the line piece of equipment for those overly conscious of their privacy. It would effectively make any phone it was plugged into a secure line, all while leaving no evidence of its use after being unplugged. Leila had a few of her own, which she had inherited from her parents, and had doubtlessly aided their work as spies. He had been able to surreptitiously acquire a few more through Jeremiah and his contacts in Intelligence, and Kyoto had contributed several of the devices as well, so that all of the Black Knights and Irregulars were now equipped with them.

"I understand," Leila replied.

"I will plan to attend as well," he added.

"Lelouch, if your older brother's there and he sees you-!" Leila started. "There's no need for you to-"

"I'm aware of the risks," Lelouch said. "But if the King doesn't lead, how can he expect anyone else to follow?"

Lelouch heard Leila sigh over the phone. "I can't honestly say I expected anything else from you. But you don't have an invitation of your own. You'd need to go as someone's guest. Kallen and Shirley don't have invitations either, Milly's already someone else's guest, and Euphemia will have her own chaperone, if she attends. I don't have a guest of my own yet, but it would attract too much attention if you were to accompany me... and not just from the media."

Lelouch nodded. Kallen and Shirley may have mostly gotten over their jealousy toward each other, but they still showed signs of feeling jealous of and threatened by his closeness to Leila, and he knew that the young countess did not wish to be the cause of further strife between them.

"Besides, I'm supposed to still be in mourning for Prince Clovis," she added with distaste. "As soon as I'm seen in public alone with a man who I'm not already known to be in a relationship with, people will automatically assume that they are now also free to court me. If there was anything good about having to pretend that I was Clovis' girlfriend, it was that my other 'suitors' clamoring for my parents' wealth or to have me as a trophy wife simply had to back off. Yes, Clovis only wanted me as his 'Muse', and had I been forced to go through with a marriage to him, I would have also been a trophy wife adorning his side, with the added baggage of being 'Princess Leila', but at least there was only one of him." She sighed again. "I don't know where I would find the time to keep up a double life if I had to put up with all of that."

Lelouch felt irritation stirring within him as he heard Leila recount her past suitors, and indignation that they would desire Lelia for such base reasons. But a traitorous part of his psyche reminded him that while he was drawn to Leila's intelligence, there were parts of him that were attracted to her on a more primitive level, as the dream conjured by Lilim had shown.

Lelouch forced those thoughts from his mind. "I would never put you in that position, Leila."

"I'm glad you understand," Leila replied. "But you must still have some sort of plan for getting in."

"I do." He explained it to her.

There was a long silence, but he could tell that Leila was frowning.

"Your girlfriends are not going to like that... especially Kallen," she said.

"Wait, did Milly-" Lelouch began irritably.

"I thought it was obvious from the change in their behavior," Leila said, giving the impression that she was shrugging on her end. "I don't think any less of you for it, Lelouch. You love them, they love you, and they're almost like sisters to each other now. As long as the three of you are happy, I think it's a beautiful thing, and I'm glad that it worked out in the end, especially when my own thoughtlessness put you in such an awkward position in the first place. Of course, I won't tell anyone else about it, until you're ready to do so yourselves."

Lelouch was thankful for that, but he picked up on a forlorn note in her voice. Leila was still clearly in love with him. Isis, as a Persona of the Priestess Arcana dwelling within him, wouldn't let him miss that.

"For much grief as that caused at the time, it worked out for the best, so don't apologize, Leila. It's in the past, over and done. Besides, as soon as we're done infiltrating the pre-reception, you'll be joining the rest of us on the Student Council for your first trimester at Ashford Academy."

"A Student Council which is increasingly a front for the Black Knights," Leila said wryly. "When I join, five of its members will form the core of the Black Knights, six if you count Arthur. Nina knows that you're a Black Knight and works for us but isn't a Persona-user herself, and your little sister, who serves as an honorary junior member, leads the Irregulars. That leaves only three members who aren't part of the Black Knights or Irregulars: Suzaku, Rolo, and Rivalz."

"We do a lot of things on the Student Council that aren't related to phantom thievery," Lelouch chuckled. "Granted, most of them are Madam President's ideas, but we still manage to have plenty of fun regardless. You'll be able to make plenty of good memories, and maybe some new friends as well."

"I'm indeed looking forward to it," Leila said, and though he couldn't see her, he was sure that she had a genuine smile on her face, making the power of the Priestess stronger than ever before.

xXx

"I'm absolutely not okay with this!" Kallen fumed.

"It's just for the infiltration, and it's the best way I can think of to get all of us in," Lelouch said as calmly as he could. He had known that Kallen wouldn't be keen on the idea, and so he had deemed it best to meet with her in person, rather than sharing the plan with her over the phone, but he was still surprised by how strong her reaction was. "I'm still finalizing the details of the plan, but both you and Shirley need invitations of your own, and nothing says that the person who invites you has to be a man. Leila can invite Shirley as one of new friends at Ashford Academy, and I think I can pull some strings to have Kaguya Sumeragi invite you as her guest, though nominally it would be as a favor to Leila."

He doubted that getting Kaguya to agree would be difficult at all, provided that she didn't already have a guest. All of the leaders of Kyoto held substantial influence in Area 11, not only in the resistance, but as public collaborators with the colonial government, so it was almost a certainty that Gao Hai would invite her as well. In turn, Kaguya would be eager to meet those who she called her fellow 'Court Ladies'.

"The Sumeragi Concern is large enough that it has dealings with many corporations in the Area," he continued, "including Leila's, so we have a pretext there. Kaguya can be a bit of a handful at times, but I'm sure you can handle yourself. It doesn't really work the other way around. You belong to a noble family, so if Kaguya invites you she can also be seen as currying favor with your parents, but she has no reason to know Shirley, who's a commoner. But if Kaguya can't invite you for whatever reason, we can adjust the plan accordingly. "

"That's not the issue here, Lelouch!" Kallen said irritably. "I understand why neither Shirley or I can go with you, and I get that we have to be invited by other people. I don't even really care if it's a girl who invites me. But why do you have to be going as my _stepmother's_ _guest_?!"

"I admit, it's unfair of me to be taking advantage of her reputation like that after we changed her heart," Lelouch replied, "but it's the best way for me to get in and have no one think twice of it. It's not like I'm going to be seducing Lady Stadtfeld either. You just need to tell her that you've gotten an invitation and ask her to invite me as her guest, so that after a while at the party, I can slip off to join you as your boyfriend. I understand that Lady Stadtfeld has been doing her best to be a better stepmother to you since her change of heart, so I think we can get her to agree to the plan if you frame it in that way."

Kallen looked like she wanted to strangle him. "How oblivious can you be, Lelouch? You're totally her type! She used to always be coming in with men who were younger than her, and you're more handsome than most!" Kallen blushed, realizing what she had just said out loud. "Um, anyways, you might have missed the appreciative once-over she gave you when you came over, but I didn't!"

"Really?" Lelouch asked. Was that really how Mrs. Stadtfeld had seen him? "I distinctly recall her disparaging me for being a commoner."

"Well now that her heart's been changed, she isn't going to be so picky about whether you're a noble or commoner, is she?" Kallen shot back heatedly. "And if she had known that you were a prince back then... she'd have jumped your bones given half an opportunity! If there's _anything_ that will get that cougar back to her old ways, it's going to be you!"

Clearly, Kallen still had no love for her stepmother, even after Mrs. Stadtfeld's change of heart. Still, he was surprised that Kallen even perceived her stepmother as a possible threat to her relationship with him at all.

"I guess I'll have to be careful then," he said with a small chuckle. "But even if I'm her type, she's not my type, so I won't let her try anything, or try anything myself in turn. You have my word, Kallen. Besides, I know that I'm asking a lot of you, and I wouldn't do so if I had a better way to get in to the party."

The anger in Kallen's eyes faded, replaced by acceptance, however reluctant. "Fine. I'll speak to her, Lelouch, and I'll even ask her to invite you for me. But only if Shirley agrees to it too!"

"It's getting late now, but I'll speak to Shirley about it tomorrow."

"Make sure that you do, Lelouch."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 34.4%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 20**

xXx

"A m-masquerade ball?" Shirley stammered.

"Technically, Leila is the one who will be inviting you as her guest, as I don't have my own invitation to get you in the door. If all goes as planned, one of Leila's business partners, who has supported us in the past, will bring in Kallen as their guest, and I'll slip in as the guest of Kallen's stepmother, but I'm not going to stay with her. Once I'm inside, I'll find you and Kallen. I promise."

"It's not quite what I hoped for," Shirley admitted, frowning slightly. "I mean, you going as the guest of an older woman, Lulu... and a noblewoman at that. But if it's the only way to get you in... I suppose that's a sacrifice we can make. Besides, it's not like you're going to do anything funny with her if it's just for our mission."

"You're taking it pretty well," he said. "Kallen gave me a similar warning, but she needed much more convincing. There was a lot bad blood between Kallen and her stepmother before we changed Mrs. Stadtfeld's heart. I doubt that Kallen will ever forgive her stepmother for making her mother's life a living hell and the scorn she received as an Eleven's daughter."

Shirley looked sad. "I've said it before. Nothing is unforgivable. If her heart's been changed, Kallen's stepmother is pretty much a totally different person than she used to be. Why hold a grudge instead of trying for a fresh start between them? I'm sure Mrs. Stadtfeld regrets how she used to be. Kallen's already lost her brother, her real mother's in prison, and her father's back in the Homeland, so her stepmother is pretty much the only family Kallen has left at home... and Kallen still hates her all the same. That's... got to be so lonely."

"I think Kallen views the Black Knights as being like her family now," he told Shirley.

"Maybe you're right, but I still wish she could patch things up with her stepmother... and you with your father."

"Not happening. Even if I somehow could forgive my father for what he's done, and I can't, the only sort of reconciliation my father would accept would be submission to his will. I'll never give him that pleasure."

"I see..." Shirley murmured. "Well, I'm still glad you thought to invite me to the masquerade ball! Even if it's in such a roundabout way."

"It's still 'work' for the Black Knights. You deserve better, Shirley, but with the infiltration of Gao Hai's ongoing, I suppose we haven't even really had a proper date yet."

"That's true, Lulu."

"Well, I'm free for the afternoon. If there's anywhere that you want to go together, I'm up to it, Shirley."

"Really, Lulu? You mean it?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Shirley... not anymore."

"But what will others think if they see me going out with you, Lulu? The other students at Ashford know that you're already going out with Kallen."

"Who cares what they think? If we really cared about what other people thought, would we be Black Knights, or even in such a relationship in the first place?"

Shirley giggled slightly. "You're so self-confident, Lulu! Even when you're breaking rules, or going against what society expects of you, you remain unflappable." She shook her head. "At first, it drove me crazy, seeing you cut classes, and waste your talents on something as disreputable as gambling. But you must have been bored out of your mind! Still, it really was your willingness to go against the crowd that drew me to you. You didn't care what other people thought or worry about retribution when you helped that old couple. You just did it because it was the right thing to do."

You make it sound like I'm some kind of hero, Shirley."

"You are to me, Lulu."

He gave a short laugh. "If it weren't for you and the others on the Student Council, I'd wouldn't be a hero but a demon." He shook his head. "Maybe I already am a demon. I'm sure you know I never intended to get you involved in all of this, Shirley. The way you always believed in the best of people, even in a world as cruel as this one, was always something that I treasured. You'd already suffered under Coach Nu, but I wanted to let you hold onto what remained of your innocence. But in the end, I made you into a criminal like me. Sometimes I wonder which would have been more selfish of me; to keep you in my life by not destroying your Treasure, as I did, even knowing that you would follow me without hesitation, or to force you to remain in ignorance and rob you of your most precious desire, all so that you would stay safe."

"It's okay, Lulu," she told him. "I have no regrets about my decision to become a Black Knight."

"Thank you, Shirley." Privately, it was a relief to hear that Shirley didn't hold his actions against him, but then again, why would she? She had even placed her hand on his, staying it, when he had wavered and considered destroying her Treasure after all. "Now where were we before we got onto all of that? We were discussing plans for a date. Is there anywhere that you'd like to go?"

"Umm... well, it's all of a sudden, so I don't really have any plans," Shirley said, blushing a bit. "Maybe we could just go out shopping, or go on a walk together? You know, something casual, Lulu." She paused, a thoughtful look on her face. "I have been meaning to look for a new diary. I feel like I've started a new chapter in my life, and I want to fill it with lots of memories."

"If that's what you want, that's fine with me, Shirley."

xXx

They headed to the mall together. Shirley said there was a store there that was her favorite place for buying stationery. As they neared the store, Lelouch found that Shirley was no longer at his side. Turning around, he saw that she had stopped and pressed herself against a window, looking inside excitedly. It was a bridal shop, and a gorgeous, elaborately decorated white dress was on display behind the glass.

"I always wanted to wear a white dress like that," Shirley murmured to herself. "I used to always say that I'd be my Papa's bride... even though I didn't really understand the concept of marriage at the time." She frowned. "It still feels unreal... knowing that he's gone... and that he..." Her voice trailed off, and she choked off a sob.

Lelouch reached an arm around Shirley's shoulder to comfort her, causing her to jump.

"Oh! Lulu! I'm sorry... I got so lost in my recollections that I almost forgot that you were there for a moment!" Her cheeks were red. "I mean, I should be happy because I'm with you, but-"

"It's okay, Shirley. You have nothing that you need to apologize for."

She nodded. "Thanks, Lulu." She turned back to the dress. "I guess I'll have to find a new dress if we really do end up going to that ball, though it won't be white like that one. I'm still saving white for that special day," she said, blushing slightly.

"Make a suggestion," Mermaid whispered in Lelouch's mind.

"About what?" he thought back.

"About what she can wear to the ball! Maybe start with the color or something!"

"Maybe you can wear a green dress to the ball?" Lelouch said, feeling awkward as he followed his Persona's advice. "To go with your eyes?" he continued at Mermaid's further prompting. "Or maybe blue would look good on you?"

Shirley laughed lightheartedly. "You're really not used to this, are you, Lulu? Still, that's rather sweet of you."

Within him, Mermaid signalled her own approval.

They walked a little further. Shirley's pace picked up as they reached the stationery shop. From the outside, it looked perfectly ordinary, but once they were inside, Lelouch saw that it was fairly high-end, with a rich variety of paper, pens and pencils, inks, and a whole section dedicated to journals and diaries.

"Which one do you think I should get, Lulu?" Shirley asked. "There are so many!" After a minute or so of looking, she picked one up. "How about this one? I think it looks cute!"

"Have you even checked the price?" Lelouch asked.

Mermaid groaned within him, and he knew that he had said the wrong thing.

"Lulu! It's..." Shirley turned the diary over in her hands. "So expensive..." she frowned, her excitement deflating instantly. "I can't just spend that much on a diary."

"I can buy it for you if you really want it," Lelouch offered, trying to make up for his mistake.

Shirley shook her head. "I would feel like I'm taking advantage of you if I asked you to get it for me. You need money for Nunna's medical bills, and-" She cut herself off.

Technically, money wasn't really an issue with the amount they brought in with fenced loot from the Metaverse, but they had always invested it back into the Black Knights rather than using it for their own benefit in the real world. Nunnally's hospital bills were an exception, but her treatments were necessary, and Lelouch needed to replace the income he had once made from gambling to pay for them now that he was regularly infiltrating Palaces and managing an increasingly busy social life between heists. He knew Shirley felt strongly about the Black Knights fighting to "protect the weak", but that would feel hollow if they gave into greed.

"Well, maybe not this one then," Lelouch said, "but we can find you a different one. And don't worry about taking advantage of me. I made the offer, didn't I?"

"Okay, Lulu," Shirley said with a nod and a small smile.

They spent several more minutes searching through diaries. "I think you might like this one, Shirley," he said, picking up another diary with a red cover. It had been buried under several of the others, but a quick look over it told him that it was the one he wanted to give Shirley.

"Oh, I like the color, and it's big enough to put lots of memories in!" Shirley beamed. She then gave him a sly look. "But be honest, Lulu. The first thing you looked at was the price, wasn't it?"

He swallowed.

She shook her head. "Some things don't change, Lulu." She smiled again. "But it's enough that you picked it for me. It means a lot, Lulu. I'll treasure it." She noticed he was giving her a funny look. "No, not Treasure like that, Lulu!"

Lelouch found that he was grinning in spite of himself, and he felt a pleasant warmth welling up inside of him. And with it, the power of the Lovers Arcana grew.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 34.2%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 19**

 **A/N: Another chapter that took longer than originally planned, and again broke the "longest chapter so far" record. Since I tend to be writing longer chapters now than when I first started the story, I guess 2-3 weeks between updates are more realistic these days, while I'm not on vacation, though I'll go faster if I can. There's also more "moving parts" so to speak, which adds to the complexity, and I have a much more thorough beta process than I used to, but I think that goes a long way to maintaining the quality of the chapters, so I'd rather do them well than rush to get them out as quickly as possible.**

 **This chapter mostly focused on addressing the repercussions of the last chapter and setting the stage for the next, so it's hardly an action-filled chapter. However, I hope that you'll still enjoy it, and the 5th arc will really start picking up steam after this.**

 **Until next time!**


	55. Before the Ball

The Black Knights approached the consulate, preparing for their next infiltration of Gao Hai's Palace. Their objective was to determine whether the invitations that several of them had received were sufficient to let them cross the Cognitive barrier that they had previously encountered. If so, they would push as far into the Palace as possible to ascertain if there were further barriers that would require their presence at the pre-reception before they committed to their plan. Nunnally and Alice had accompanied them from Ashford Academy, and the other Irregulars would be arriving shortly as well.

But it seemed their visits had not gone unnoticed, for someone was waiting by the alley that they usually ducked into before entering the Palace.

"I was wondering when you would show up," a man's voice said.

The speaker was a young man, though several years older than any of the Black Knights, likely in his early twenties. He was wearing blue Chinese clothing, in an antiquated military style, and had long black hair that fell down his back. No, long was an understatement. It was even longer than Shirley's hair, reaching down to his knees. The man's voice was calm but stern, but even more striking were his eyes. They glinted with the same sharp intelligence that Leila's did. That, more than anything, made the man seem dangerous to Lelouch, even more than the sword sheathed at the man's side, something that would be reserved for officers at the consulate.

"Huh? You were waiting for us? I think there's been some kind of mistake," Milly said, taking the lead. "We're just students and we were out... sightseeing! Yeah, sightseeing, before our summer break is over!"

The man did not seem amused. "Few Britannian students show much interest in the culture of the Chinese Federation, and nor do they stop by with such regularity. If you keep coming here, other people at the consulate are going to notice and think that you're up to something... especially if you're sneaking into alleyways as if you have something to hide. I understand that those accompanying you may wish to keep a low profile while out in public, but it still strikes me as odd."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Milly asked, trying to sound innocent.

"If my eyes do not deceive me, that is Lady Breisgau, said to be the lover of the previous Viceroy of this Area," he said, nodding at Leila. He turned to Euphemia. "And you are the current Sub-Viceroy, Euphemia li Britannia. I can see that you've taken some precautions. But it takes more than a pair of sunglasses and a hat to hide who you are if someone takes a closer look."

"You've got it all-" Euphemia started, but Leila shook her head. It was obvious that the man would not by fooled by any claims that they were not in fact the Countess Breisgau and the Third Princess, and Lelouch could tell that Leila recognized that. The most they could do was defuse any suspicions that the man had and prevent him from learning the rest of their identities.

"My apologies for confronting you like this, Your Highness," the man said. "It's none of my business who you choose to spend your time with. But this is a very important time between our countries. Maybe you are simply sightseeing with some friends. But if you're seen as trying to interfere in any way, word will find its way back to your Prime Minister. Your friends should be even more careful. The Consul-General is always watching for enemies, real or imagined. While they are not subject to Chinese law, he can cause no shortage of trouble for them if he perceives them as a threat in any way."

Lelouch thought that the man was leaving much unsaid, but it was clear that he was trying to warn them, and held little love for Gao Hai. Coming to meet with them had to be a huge risk in itself for him, but saying anything more overtly disloyal in front of a Britannian princess, even one likely to be sympathetic to his cause, would compound that risk exponentially. Even now, the man was intently analyzing their reactions, Euphemia's most of all.

"Thank you," Euphemia said softly, her voice trailing off as she realized that she didn't know the man's name.

"My apologies for not introducing myself, Your Highness," the man said, giving a slight, polite bow. "My name is Li Xingke. On the behalf of Her Majesty, the Empress, I serve as the Consul-General's bodyguard." The way he spoke of the Empress was completely different from the barely disguised contempt with which he talked of Gao Hai, filled with reverence, and his eyes glinted with fierce determination.

"The Chinese Federation may not have Knights of its own, but I can tell that the Empress is fortunate to have a soldier such as you serving her," Euphemia said. "Thank you, Xingke. We will take your advice to heart."

"I'm glad you understand, your highness." He glanced at the other Black Knights and the two Irregulars. "I hope your friends do as well."

There was a hint of suspicion in Xingke's voice. He knew Milly had been lying when she said they were sightseeing, Lelouch was sure of it, and in any case, their presence alongside Euphemia and Leila was suspicious in its own right. The odds of Xingke successfully deducing that they were the Black Knights were incredibly low, albeit nonzero. If Xingke had them figured out, it could potentially doom them all if his suspicions reached the wrong ears.

But Xingke seemed more the type to exploit whatever opportunities the Black Knights might create to make his own move against the Consul-General. Besides, it would be quite the leap to assume that they were Black Knights. As far as they knew, Xingke had no evidence of their involvement in the Metaverse, and his obvious intelligence paradoxically made it less likely that he would reach that conclusion. Xingke was simply too smart to believe in supernatural nonsense like the Metaverse, just as Lelouch knew he himself had been before setting foot in there. Thus, Xingke was utterly incapable of understanding the Black Knights' methods. Xingke would look at them and perhaps see a royal and a bunch of nobles out making mischief and getting uncomfortably close to where they didn't belong, but he would never imagine them to be phantom thieves who stole peoples' hearts.

As they turned to leave, Shirley paused, and seemingly on impulse, asked, "Aren't the Chinese people suffering under the High Eunuchs? So then-"

Xingke gave her a strange look, and she immediately fell silent.

"That's quite a question for a Britannian student to be asking." He scowled as he turned away from them.

"More than you can know," Xingke muttered darkly.

xXx

Of course, the Black Knights and Irregulars had no intentions of leaving empty-handed. When they were out of earshot from Xingke and they were sure that they hadn't been followed, Nunnally called the other Irregulars to tell them that the meeting location had changed. Soon, all twelve of them were in the Metaverse, entering from another alley, somewhat further away from the consulate.

"If he's Gao Hai's bodyguard, then he will definitely be in attendance at the pre-reception," Leila said. "That poses a complication for us. He doesn't seem fond of the Consul-General, but he's still largely an unknown quantity. If he gets too close to any of us, he will likely recognize us, masks or not."

"He won't be able to act without making a scene, and I'm sure that's the last thing that he wants," Lelouch said. "Besides, we will be attending as duly invited guests, will we not?"

"That's true," Euphemia said, "but-"

"It's a risk yes, but it's one we'll have to take if there's another Cognitive barrier. And so, we press on."

xXx

Getting back to the Cognitive barrier was not particularly difficult for the Black Knights and Irregulars. They knew the route well by now, as well as the weaknesses of the Shadows along their path, to say nothing of how their Personas were growing ever more powerful.

The other Black Knights seemed to experience a moment of trepidation as they stood before the Cognitive barrier, as if they were unsure that it would work, but sure enough, the gate opened for them, admitting them into the inner halls of Gao Hai's Forbidden City.

Two colors dominated the interior decoration of Gao Hai's Palace, vermillion and gold, though it seemed that Gao Hai favored the latter. Priceless treasures from China, India, and southeast Asia lined the halls, clearly representing the tribute that Gao Hai and the other High Eunuchs received from their territories. But they weren't the Treasure that the Black Knights and Irregulars sought, and there was a certain carelessness to how they were arranged.

"It's like he doesn't even know what he has... but he always wants more of it," Milly murmured. Her tone turned mischievous. "I'll bet he wouldn't even notice if we took some," she said as she began peeking inside some porcelain urns to see if anything was squirreled away in them. "Wait a minute.. this is Ming porcelain, isn't it? Something like this would be worth a pretty pence!"

"Are you really going to take that, Diamond?" Shirley asked. "Isn't that-"

"What, Dame?" Milly chuckled. "Stealing? We're thieves. It's part of the job. Besides, none of this stuff exists outside of the Metaverse, and the person who thought it all up pretty much stole it himself in the first place, so loosen up! You could say that we're... liberating it. That's right, liberating it!"

Shirley's eyes lit up. "Oh... like stealing from the rich and giving to the poor? I can get behind that." She glanced over to Lelouch. "Right, Zero?"

"As long as you're not careless, go right ahead, Dame."

"I don't get what the big deal is," Dalque said. "You just take what you want that the bad guys don't want you to have."

"We had to do it to survive," Alice said, and was met with nodding from Lucretia and Sancia. "But this... it's something else. I've never seen so much wealth in one place before."

"Dame has a strong sense of right and wrong, Power," Nunnally explained. "It takes a bit of getting used to breaking the rules. Was I any different at first?"

"Actually, I think you took to it very well, Nemo," Alice replied. "But you always held yourself back when he's around," she said, shooting a brief glare at Lelouch.

"That's in the past, Speed. There are no secrets between me and my big brother now. We're both free to be ourselves." Ignoring some of the funny looks she was getting from the other girls, Nunnally continued. "And when it comes down to it, you can count on Dame."

"Why thank you Nun- Nemo," Shirley said, correcting herself.

"After all, she loves my big brother almost as much as I do!"

Shirley's cheeks turned very red, but perhaps it was because she had already accepted the degree of her own feelings when she faced her Shadow that she avoided making a larger scene out of Nunnally's remark. Milly couldn't resist chortling though, while Euphemia could only smile.

"Just like the old days," the Third Princess said.

"Um, right! Steal from the corrupt!" Shirley said, in a transparent attempt to change the subject. She began busying herself, seeing if there was anything worth pilfering nearby.

"Wait, Dame!" Leila called out. "I'm sensing-"

"Eek!"

A Shadow burst out of the urn that Shirley had been inspecting. It took the form of a crown, decorated by an enormous diamond, that, when viewed head on, seemed as dark as a black hole in the center. It was a Treasure Demon, possessing the gemstone that Lelouch knew as the Koh-i-Noor.

"How cunning of you to have found me!" The Treasure Demon said to Shirley. "It's fortunate that you're not a man. Otherwise, I would have brought you terrible luck!"

"Don't just stand there, Dame!" Kallen called out. "You're going to let it get away!"

"Um, right!" Shirley pulled off her mask with a flourish, wreathing her face in blue flames. "Maid Marian!"

Shirley's Persona appeared above her, and conjured spears of light, which drove themselves toward the Treasure Demon, but it emerged seemingly unharmed.

"It didn't work..." Shirley frowned.

"Let me try!" Kallen said. "Guren Jigoku! Freidyne!"

A nuclear blast, significantly larger and more powerful than those that they had seen from Kallen's Persona before. engulfed the Treasure Demon. While it was not incapacitated by the spell, it did appear to be severely weakened.

"Might you be the one to best me?" The Treasure Demon asked.

The others launched their own attacks, which were largely ineffective against the Treasure Demon. But as soon as Guren Jigoku managed to cast Freidyne again, the fight was over. The beaten Treasure Demon yielded, and permitted itself to be absorbed into Lelouch's mask.

"That was cool, Queen!" Arthur grinned.

"Yeah... thanks," Shirley said, sheepishly. "Sorry that I couldn't do more."

"Don't worry about it," Kallen told her. "Those things are always so annoying when we run into them. I'm sure there will be one down the road that my Persona is totally useless against."

"Thanks, Queen," Shirley said.

xXx

The Black Knights and Irregulars continued deeper into the Palace, continuing to rotate which team took the lead in clearing the path ahead of Shadows. As they progressed, several of them noticed an unsettling, murmuring sound.

"What is that?" Sancia asked, in the lead with Nunnally.

"Whatever it is, it's giving me the creeps," Dalque said irritably.

"It almost sounds like voices... just like how it is in Mementos," Arthur said, the fur on his back rising noticeably.

"I agree... it's a Cognition," Lucretia said, analyzing the route ahead from within the protection of a glass observation globe that appeared around her whenever she summoned Lucia. "Bishop," she said into the telepathic connection that the Black Knights' navigator had established between them, "can you make out what they're saying?"

Leila concentrated for several moments. "It's difficult to make any of them out... but I think they're the voices of the common people of the Chinese Federation. They're..." her voice became grim. "They're begging for help... There are poor harvests... they can't afford the taxes the High Eunuchs have imposed upon them... even medicine is scarce... they want someone to help them... but... Gao Hai has deafened himself to their pleas. That's why their voices are so muffled and indistinct."

Euphemia frowned hearing Leila's assessment. "It's really that bad, isn't it? And we still haven't found a way to help those people without stealing Gao Hai's heart, even as we're most of the way to his Treasure." She shook her head. "But I suppose you knew it would turn out this way, didn't you, Zero?"

"There was always a chance that we would be able to find another way," he told Euphemia gently. "But it was always just a slim chance."

Euphemia was silent for several moments.

"Are you mad at me, Noire?"

She shook her head sadly. "No. I think, deep down, I knew that all along. There's no other way. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. We can't let Gao Hai and the other High Eunuchs continue to mistreat their people like this, nor let our brother annex the Chinese Federation into Britannia. We have to steal Gao Hai's heart."

xXx

"Halt!" a voice that they had first heard not so long ago called out.

They had reached a large pair of gilded gates, guarded by a Cognition of a terracotta soldier. But this one was different than those they had seen before. It's features were more distinct, as if they were based on a specific person, and its terracotta clothing was painted blue. It seemed badly damaged, with cracks all over its body, especially around its chest, yet somehow, it remained standing, as if through sheer force of will. Getting closer, Lelouch saw it was indeed a Cognition of the person he thought it was.

Li Xingke.

"These are the Huangdi's private quarters!" Cognitive Xingke announced. "You may have be guests in his Palace, but you are permitted to go no further!"

The Cognition put a hand to the hilt of its sword. Lelouch could feel its killing intent, and didn't need Leila to tell him that Cognitive Xingke would attack them if they continued to approach. But there was nothing to be gained by fighting anyway. Narrowing his focus so that he could perceive the gates before him with the Third Eye, Lelouch could tell that they were another Cognitive barrier. There was no way to open them from within the Palace.

So Lelouch decided to take a different approach. "Why do you continue to serve Gao Hai, even when it is clear that you resent him?"

Cognitive Xingke let out a harsh laugh, as if they needed to be reminded that he was actually an extension of Gao Hai's Shadow, like the rest of the Palace, before lurching into a sudden coughing fit, bits of terracotta breaking off of him.

"I serve the Empress, like her devoted lapdog," Cognitive Xingke said mockingly. "And because of that, it's easy to pull my strings. If I act openly against Gao Hai, then what will happen to her Majesty? Of course, I'll be discarded when I'm no longer useful. Does that answer your question?" the Cognition asked, as if daring them to step forward and face him.

"It does," Lelouch replied. "Thank you, Xingke. Perhaps we shall face each other at another time."

"A wise decision," Cognitive Xingke said with amusement. "I shall wait for your return then. You are quite an interesting one... for a thief."

"Isn't he going to raise the alarm as soon as we go?" Shirley asked anxiously.

"Me?" Cognitive Xingke laughed again. "Why would I do that? I'll just bide my time for now. But I hope you know what you're getting into."

xXx

"Welcome once again to my Velvet Room, Trickster," Igor said, sitting lazily at his desk. "I was not expecting to see you so soon. Do you require our services again?"

"Yes. I'd like to execute this Treasure Demon at the electric chair."

"The Koh-i-Noor. I see." Igor chuckled. "Very well. Shi! Tsu!"

"Yes, Master!" the sisters said in unison, not giving any hint that they, like Lelouch, were plotting against the Master of the Velvet Room.

Lelouch felt an electric sensation pass through him as the Treasure Demon perished, leaving only the diamond itself, and the crown that it was mounted upon. Shi picked the crown up from the chair, and brought it over to him.

"It is for a woman, is it not, Trickster?" Igor asked him. "Perhaps for the Sinner of Lust, who now fights among you?"

Lelouch bristled. It had been an elegant solution to his earlier dilemma. He would give Kallen the Queen's Necklace, while Shirley would receive the Koh-i-Noor. Both gifts were comparable in value, so neither of his girlfriends would feel slighted next to the other, and while they couldn't go around wearing them in public, they could make use of the power that had been infused into the jewels in the Metaverse. Igor was nosy, in more than one sense of the term, but it was unusual for him to be so blunt when inquiring about his love life, and he didn't like how accurate Igor's guess had been.

"You have no right to call her that," Lelouch said heatedly, even knowing that it would draw Igor's wrath. "Shirley's grown beyond who she once was. That her Palace vanished on its own is proof of that."

Sure enough, Igor was incensed by his backtalk. "The Deadly Sin of Lust is the insanity of mankind!" Igor boomed. "Unchecked, it shall bring forth ruin!"

"Don't worry about ruin," Lelouch smirked. "Ragnarok, and whatever my father's plans may be, will never come to pass."

That seemed to placate Igor. "Yes," the Master of the Velvet Room said, his rictus grin as demented and malevolent as ever.

"You are obviously far older and wiser than I am, so forgive my presumption, but I can't help but think that you've never shown much faith in humanity. Would I be wrong in thinking that you believe that the people of the Chinese Federation will fail to act once we expose Gao Hai's crimes?"

Igor chuckled. "You understand far more than than the unwashed masses, Trickster. Too often, the masses are indolent lemmings, who would march off a cliff to ruin without a second thought. At their worst, they are a mindless mob, just as surely leading to ruin. It falls to you, Trickster, to prove otherwise, so that the masses may be guided on the path to proper development."

It did not escape Lelouch that Igor hadn't given him a straight answer. It was also obvious to him who Igor thought should be guiding humanity. But he would keep playing along for now.

"Very well. I accept your challenge. Rest assured, I shall exceed your every expectation."

"Indeed, you never cease to intrigue me, Trickster."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 34.1%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 18**

xXx

"You know, I'm really starting to think that you have a death wish of your own," Tsu said, stretching out in Lelouch's bed as he awoke the next morning. "If you keep goading The Nose, sooner or later you're going to go too far. You're playing a dangerous game, Trickster."

"If he's going to act like he's some kind of paternal figure, then he should expect some pushback, especially since he already knows that I hate my father and everything he stands for," Lelouch retorted. "It's natural for me to resist authority of any kind, and it would seem strange if I didn't."

"So in other words, you choose to act like a spoiled brat who thinks he's smarter than everyone else because he has daddy issues," Tsu said with a smirk.

"Isn't that the same as being a normal teenager?" Lelouch replied with a smirk of his own.

"You are not a normal teenager."

"And you are not a normal girl."

"Of course I'm not. As I said before, you might call me a witch."

"A witch you may be, but you're also a trusted confidant. He was insulting Shirley, but if he said the same to you, I would stand up for you, just as I would for any of the others."

Tsu smiled. "You really are something special, Trickster." She shook her head. "Of course, you probably have other confidants that you need to meet with."

"I do."

"Then go do what you must, Trickster. I'll be here when you return. We are as ever bound by our contract, are we not?"

"Indeed."

"The Nose doubts you, but if anyone can produce a miracle, it's you, Trickster."

xXx

"Aw, I would have been more than happy to go with you!" Kaguya pouted within Kirihara's audience chamber, uncomfortably close as she looked up to Lelouch with fawning green eyes. "But at least I get to meet your Court Ladies! So of course I'm in, Prince Lelouch!"

"Kaguya! This is not the time for childish flights of fancy!" Kirihara scolded. "You had put that all but behind you until Tanabata!" Kaguya shifted uncomfortably, and Lelouch could not fail to grasp Kirihara's implication.

Kirihara turned his attention to Lelouch. "Will this help the Black Knights prevent the union between Britannia and the Chinese Federation?" As one who had been a power broker behind the scenes for decades, Kirihara was very much aware of the broader political ramifications of the upcoming royal wedding.

"Indeed it will, Lord Kirihara. It is imperative that as many of us gain entrance into the Chinese Federation Consulate as possible, and Kallen is one of our most powerful members. The operation would be severely handicapped without her." If all went well, fighting would prove unnecessary, but there was always the possibility that they would need to make a quick escape into the Metaverse, and most situations in which they would be forced to do so would also put the Shadows in the Palace on high alert.

"Very well then," Kirihara said. "You may go and help Lelouch with this matter, Kaguya." His voice turned stern. "But remember that you represent one of the Six Houses of Kyoto. You must do nothing to invite undue suspicion upon yourself!"

"When are you going to treat me like a grown-up?" Kaguya complained. "I'm the head of my house in my own right, and an equal member of the Six Houses, yet you and the others still boss me around like I'm a kid, old man Kirihara!"

"If you were truly grown-up, you would be able to prove yourself worthy of being treated like an adult through your words and actions. Yet your continued petulance proves that you are still but a child."

Kaguya hung her head, grimacing.

"While you are here, Lelouch, there are other matters I would like to discuss," Kirihara said, satisfied that Kaguya had been suitably chastised. "You expressed to me that one of your companions was interested in meeting with me to discuss shared business interests?"

"Yes, Countess Breisgau. She is no friend of Britannia, and I think there is much good the two of you could accomplish together, Lord Kirihara."

"This can be arranged. Of course, I presume the Countess will be busy until you have stolen Gao Hai's heart."

"That is correct."

"And you will be likewise occupied," Kirihara continued. "But when we next meet, I think we will have an old acquaintance of yours present. You may find his expertise useful to you. Of course, should you not wish to share your identity with him, we can arrange for your anonymity."

"That's very interesting, Lord Kirihara. I look forward to it."

xXx

Kaguya still seemed down as they left Kirihara's audience chamber.

"I haven't changed, have I?" Kaguya asked. "I'm still like I was when we met in the woods all those years ago. I act like a spoiled princess, and I throw tantrums when I don't get my way. But you... You're no longer just an oni. As the leader of the Black Knights, you've practically become a superhero."

"Don't downplay how far you've come," Lelouch told her. "You've already come so far from that day. I'll never be one to say that you should just let the other heads of the Six Houses hold you back, and I can very much empathize with the sort of resentment that you feel toward them. You can change more than you know. I've changed more than I ever imagined possible in these past months. But don't change for them. Do it because it's what you want, and don't be afraid to break a few of their rules along the way either." He paused. "Of course, being a member of the Six Houses demands that you wear a certain mask in public, but don't let it hide that optimism of yours, or think that you have to give it up entirely to become a grown-up. That's what makes you Kaguya Sumeragi, after all."

Kaguya thought about that for a moment. "You're right! Thank you Lelouch! I'll show them, starting with this party! And I won't let you down either!"

Lelouch felt warmth within him as the power of the Sun Arcana shone through his bond with Kaguya.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 34.0%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 17**

xXx

Lelouch spent the next day meeting with Sayoko and Nina in preparation for the infiltration of the pre-recepetion at the Chinese Federation Consulate. Neither of them had invitations, but they didn't need them.

Using her training as the 37th successor to the Shinozaki School, Sayoko would incapacitate and impersonate a member of the consulate's staff, choosing someone who would be mostly beneath notice. From there, she would make her way to the Consulate's security mainframe, delivering to it a computer virus on a portable drive supplied by Diethard. If necessary, Sayoko would also install a device that would open the mainframe to external internet connections.

This would enable Nina to remotely take control of the mainframe from the safety of her computer Terminal at Ashford Academy. Nina would then run looped camera footage in the embassy, wipe the security tapes, destroying any video evidence of the Black Knights' presence at the pre-reception. She would also keep watch over the real camera feeds, monitoring for sudden changes in the embassy's security situation so that she could warn them if necessary. If things got particularly serious, she was to trigger a false fire alarm in the consulate and perhaps cause some other chaos so that they would be able to escape unnoticed in the confusion.

Lelouch had to admit, he had been surprised to learn that Nina was a fellow hacker, and had been long before they had ever changed her heart. He expected it from shady characters like Diethard, committing such crimes in the name of 'investigative journalism'. Sayoko had some skill in hacking as well, but her area of expertise was more in physically infiltrating a location to retrieve or assassinate a target. But apparently all this time, while Nina had been quietly at her computer in the background, not only had she been running physics simulations, but she had been commanding a formidable botnet, a hacking feat that exceeded any of his own.

Nina of course hadn't set out with the goal of becoming a fearsome cyber-criminal, and nor had she done anything particularly malicious with the systems that she had compromised until now. She had just hit a dead end with her research, because her own computer and the resources at Ashford Academy were far too limited to carry out the work she wanted to do in any real detail. But there were universities throughout Area 11 with supercomputing nodes that were too often underutilized.

As Nina had explained to him as she confessed in private, she had thought that if she could borrow some computing time here and there while nobody else was using them, she could distribute her calculations in a massively parallel configuration, achieving her desired results far sooner. "Scrumping" was the technical term for the sort of theft that Nina had committed. Technically, military computers could have offered her even more computation power to scrump for her own uses, but military-grade firewalls were much tougher to hack through, and Nina was smart enough not to risk drawing the military's attention.

Of course, Nina no longer needed to scrump for computer time now that she had the support of Earl Asplund and Princess Euphemia, but part of her worried that she would lose that if they ever learned out how she had really done her calculations. Lelouch had confidently assured her that it would be their secret, causing Nina to smile in turn.

Still, Nina was confident that she wouldn't be caught while they infiltrated the consulate. But seeing Nina willingly commit treason alongside them with so little hesitation filled Lelouch with self-doubt. She would have never done so before. Had it really been right to change her heart? She would suffer the same penalties as the rest of them if they were caught.

As a whole, Nina was far happier and better-adjusted than she had ever been before. But while they had stolen away her misplaced hatred of the Japanese, an intense personal loyalty to himself and Princess Euphemia remained, out of gratitude for saving her from those thugs back in Izu. In many ways, it was similar to how Jeremiah regarded him. Nina had a newfound respect for Kallen as well, but ultimately saw Kallen as having followed his orders to save her, rather than independently coming to her aid, and so Nina's devotion remained focused on him and his half-sister.

Then there was the fact that Nina's change of heart had not gone unnoticed among the other members of the Student Council. Rolo and Suzaku had already concluded that it was the work of the Black Knights, and so Nina, at Lelouch's urging, had "come clean" that she had asked the Black Knights to steal her own heart so that she could move past her issues. Of course, by that point, they had forged a post for Nina requesting her own change of heart on KnightWatch, complete with a fake timestamp. Rolo and Suzaku still didn't approve of Nina reaching out to the Black Knights, but they didn't show any signs of suspecting that she had allied herself with them.

But Nina's change of heart seemed a relatively small thing next to that of the woman he would soon be meeting with.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 33.8%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 16**

xXx

Lelouch made his way to Stadtfeld Manor, wearing a black tuxedo with a purple undershirt and a cravat. It was a bit old-fashioned, but so were masquerade balls in general.

The pre-reception would be later that evening. Kallen had called, saying that her stepmother had agreed to "her" request, provided that she could meet with Lelouch first, not that Kallen sounded at all happy about it.

"She says she wants to know what kind of person my boyfriend is," Kallen had huffed over the phone. "Remember, Lelouch. Don't let her try anything with you."

There was an unsaid "or else" at the end of that sentence.

Kallen had to depart to meet with Kaguya and prepare for the event with her, so Kallen would not be present as Lelouch met with her stepmother, but it was probably for the best.

He was greeted at the door by one of the Stadtfelds' other maids. The exchange of pleasantries was perfectly polite, but as the maid left to fetch Mrs. Stadtfeld, Lelouch couldn't help but feel a measure of contempt for her. It had very likely been one of the same maids who Kallen said had tormented her mother at Mrs. Stadtfeld's urging, or at the least, been complicit in it. The lady of the house's heart may have changed, but those of the maids had not.

"So you're here," a familiar voice said. Glancing up, Lelouch saw Mrs. Stadtfeld coming down the stairs, much as she had before, but her bearing could not have been more different. The cruelty in her eyes and voice was gone, as was the ridiculously elaborate hairstyle that she had worn during their first meeting. Instead, Mrs. Stadtfeld let her hair fall freely in the back, and she wore a simple but long blue dress. She seemed to have aged, in the sense that she looked closer to her true age now than the image of a younger woman that she had tried to project earlier, whether that was from wearing less makeup, the stress of coming to terms with how awful she had been to Kallen and her mother, or both. But that didn't take away from the fact that Mrs. Stadteld was still outwardly a beautiful woman, especially now that her formerly distorted desires were no longer rotting her from the inside.

"I must apologize for how I welcomed you last time," Mrs. Stadtfeld said with a frown. "That was very unbecoming of me." She paused. "You are my daughter's boyfriend, are you not?"

That comment may not have seemed much by itself, but at their last meeting Mrs. Stadtfeld had barely even bothered hiding her hatred for her stepdaughter, or that Kallen wasn't her biological daughter. Now, she actually seemed interested in Kallen's wellbeing, and her own role as Kallen's legal mother.

"I am," Lelouch replied.

Mrs. Stadtfeld nodded, and glanced toward her maid. "Leave us," she said curtly, regaining some of her old harsh demeanor, though now it seemed more an affectation than anything else.

The maid bowed and departed in silence.

"You're the one who changed my heart, aren't you?" Mrs. Stadtfeld asked.

Lelouch wasn't about to admit that in front of her. The maid may have departed, but there was always value in plausible deniability.

"I don't-" he started.

"You showed up one day to visit Kallen, and by the next the Black Knights steal my heart," Mrs. Stadtfeld said ruefully. "What reason would the Black Knights have had to go after me, of all the nobles in Area 11? What I did to her real mother was awful, but others have committed far worse crimes. No matter how I tried to reason it, the whole thing only made sense if was either as a favor to someone who hated me, or to someone close enough to me to know what was going on here out of the public eye."

"I'm sure there are many people who fit those descriptions," Lelouch said. "Any one of them could have posted a request to have your heart changed on KnightWatch."

"But Kallen fits both of them. And she didn't need to post a request, since she was already a Black Knight alongside you, wasn't she?" Mrs. Stadtfeld cut in. "I knew that she had been sneaking out to the ghettos before, but I should have realized that something was up when she started attending school more. That's when she got involved with you and the Black Knights." Mrs. Stadtfeld shook her head. "I deserved it though." She gave Lelouch a piercing look. "Do you have any idea what it feels like to have your heart changed?"

"I'd imagine rather distressing," he said, thinking back to Villetta and Clovis. That of course didn't seem to be true for Nina, but there was no reason to go into that with Mrs. Stadtfeld.

"You can't really imagine it, not without living through it yourself. It hit me all at once... how awful I'd been to Kallen and her mother... how petty I'd been. I'd ruined that poor woman's life almost singlehandedly." Mrs. Stadtfeld began choking up as she relived her guilt anew. "Yes, my husband rejected her too, but I was the one who tried to tear her apart from her daughter, and then made her life a living hell for the temerity to just want to be in the same home as her, no matter how degrading her position. All the while, I just selfishly focused on my own happiness. But I see now how futile my attempts to receive attention were... No matter how many men I brought over, I'd never find what I was looking for. I kept on discarding them as my husband discarded me, and my daughter's real mother before me. I was a wreck... I'd say it's your fault... but all you did was lay my sins bare."

Mrs. Stadtfeld smiled slightly. "Yet, difficult as it was... I felt free, like I finally knew what was important. I'd never have my husband's heart, and at last I could accept that. But there was someone else I could care for..." Her expression turned to a frown, and her eyes betrayed a deep tiredness. "Someone to whom I owed amends... especially after what I drove her real mother too. She shuddered. "I still have many sleepless nights, thinking about what I did."

"Your punishment is to atone for your crimes, for as long as you live," Lelouch said simply.

"Indeed, it is," Mrs. Stadtfeld agreed. "You know, you're a cruel young man. No matter what I do, Kallen will still hate me. I'm under no illusions that agreeing to bring you with me to the ball at the Consulate will change her opinion of me. And you're asking me to go back to how I was, if only for a night. I can still remember how to act the part... but I'm no longer that woman. She disgusts me."

"I know that you don't have the power to have overturn her real mother's conviction, but isn't there anything that you could do?" Lelouch asked Mrs. Stadtfeld. "Pull a few strings, get her moved to another facility with better treatment, or perhaps even released on parole?"

"That... could be done." Mrs. Stadtfeld gave him a strange look. "Maybe I misjudged you... You're still cruel, but you're kind as well. That's why Kallen fell for you, isn't it?" She let out a small laugh. "If only you were a bit older... or I a bit younger..." She shook her head. "But I won't get in the way of whatever happiness my daughter has managed to find. Very well. I'll help you get into the Consul-General's pre-reception. There's one thing that I want you to promise me though."

"What is it?"

"Whatever it is you're doing there, keep Kallen safe. If something were to happen to her... I really wouldn't have a reason for living anymore. After you took my distorted desires, atonement is all I have left."

"I will."

xXx

"You encountered but failed to eliminate the group calling themselves the Irregulars," the old silver-haired man said. His voice was soft, but his anger was clear. "They should have been no match for you, yet you permitted them to escape."

"My apologies, My Lord," Black Mask's voice replied. "I will not offer excuses. I sorely underestimated them, and that is my own failure. But allow me the opportunity to redeem myself. If you but give the word, I will eliminate their leader, and that escaped test subject who acts as her bodyguard even now."

"Tempting as it is to accept your offer and be rid of Marianne's accursed daughter, the opportunity has passed. If you had managed to kill Nunnally vi Britannia among nameless thieves in Mementos, we could have claimed ignorance of the matter. But not only is it impossible to inflict a mental shutdown on Persona-users, assassinating her in the open would draw Charles' attention away from Ragnarok. It would be a most unfortunate distraction at this juncture, when we are already in the final stages of the project, which has taken decades to bring to fruition."

"My Lord, there is something you should know about her Persona," Black Mask said, suddenly speaking up.

"What would that be?"

"Her Persona is not normal. When we fought, it was as if her Shadow possessed her."

There was only silence on the old man's end for several moments.

"My Lord?" Black Mask asked hesitantly.

"Are you sure?" the old man said.

"Yes. Even her eyes turned gold like a Shadow's."

The man chuckled. "Truly remarkable. I will have to revisit my notes... but it seems birds of a feather truly flock together... you did well to tell me that, Agent Nebiros."

"I don't understand, My Lord."

"And nor do you need to. But I will say this: is a Shadow not one's true self, stripped of all pretension, of the lies that we wrap ourselves in?"

"Indeed, My Lord. Are you saying-"

"You should know better than anyone not to ask too many questions," the old man said sharply. "Now what else have you to report, Agent?"

"The Black Knights are progressing rapidly through the Consul-General's Palace. If they change his heart, the alliance between Britannia and the Chinese Federation could-"

"Irrelevant. Let Schneizel distract the masses with political theater. Ragnarok will come to pass whether the Chinese Federation is part of Britannia or not."

"Of course, My Lord."

"Still, continue your observations for now."

"Very well. I shall take my leave then, My Lord. I have a party to attend."

 **A/N:**

 **This chapter took longer to put out than I expected. I would have liked to include the party itself in this chapter, but at over 7.5k words, that would have made it much too long without compromising the details of the scene.**

 **Still, we are moving toward wrapping up the current arc, and hope to get the next one out faster, but we'll see how things go.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	56. Masquerade

After agreeing to help him, Mrs. Stadtfeld excused herself to get herself ready. When she returned, her hair was in an even more elaborate style than the one he remembered, perhaps to keep up with the latest fashion trends among the nobility. She had applied makeup to her face, concealing most of the signs of age that Lelouch had seen earlier. She wore the same elegant blue dress as when she had greeted him, but now there was a now a stole, patterned after a peacock's tail feathers, draped over her shoulders, sheer and shimmering, and she held a matching mask in her hands. Technically, such vivid plumage was only characteristic of male peafowl, but Lelouch chose not to mention that. Peacocks had long been symbols of vanity, so it was a perfect match with her old self nonetheless.

Mrs. Stadtfeld had also decked herself out with a diamond necklace. It was extravagant, but its brilliance faded when compared to the Queen's Necklace. While he knew that Kallen would never be able to wear it in public, he fought back a smirk, imagining how envious Mrs. Stadtfeld would have been before her change of heart to see her stepdaughter in that.

"What do you think?" Mrs. Stadtfeld asked. "If this is going to work, I'm not only going to have to act like my old self, I'm going to have to look the part as well," she said with a hint of distaste.

"That will do," Lelouch told her. "I'm grateful that you're willing to go through with this."

"That's all you can say?" Mrs. Stadtfeld said, giving him a wicked look and putting on a haughty tone of voice. "I hope that you're more appreciative of my daughter. Most boys in your position would be swooning at the chance to go out with her, to say nothing of a glamorous older woman."

Mrs. Stadtfeld let out a harsh laugh. "Who am I kidding? My daughter's always had a temper, and she never had an interest in becoming a proper Britannian lady. Of course, the old me saw her as little more than an ungrateful parasite foisted upon me by my husband, and she never wanted anything to do with me. At first I forced her to practice etiquette whenever she was at home, thinking I could stamp out some of that Eleven taint, but she just responded by sneaking out to the ghettos more. I wouldn't be surprised if she quickly learned to handle herself and any pigs who might try to come on to her there. The ghettos are a rough place, and too many men are like that."

"You're not wrong," Lelouch said. "She pulled a knife on me not long after we met, and used to be in the habit of making death threats against anyone who she thought might reveal her secret." He saw Mrs. Stadtfeld give a disapproving look. "She's gotten a lot better though. It seems like that was so long ago..."

Mrs. Stadtfeld shook her head. "At the time, I never bothered to find out exactly what she was doing in the ghettos. Oh, I had some inkling of what she had gotten herself into... especially after her brother died. But I was such a heartless person that I didn't really care. Kallen couldn't have gotten away with using that ridiculous excuse of being sickly if I had chosen to involve myself. She even keeps physical training equipment in her room! Who did she think she was fooling?" Mrs. Stadtfeld sighed, and when she continued there was only self-loathing in her voice. "But it was more convenient for me that way."

"Because if Kallen got killed, you could easily cover it up, and say that she had succumbed to her supposed illness."

"Guilty as charged," Mrs. Stadtfeld nodded. "Still... for Kallen to mellow out around you... She must see something really special in you."

"She's still as passionate about fighting for what she believes in as when I met her."

"At least my daughter still has her dreams and desires." Mrs. Stadtfeld shook her head again. "But listen to us, going on like this. Don't we have a party to attend?"

xXx

Lelouch and Mrs. Stadtfeld sat next to each other in the back of her limousine as they rode to the pre-reception and masquerade ball at the Chinese Federation Consulate. Neither wore their masks yet, and were assured privacy by the partition separating them from her driver. Yet the ride passed mostly in silence. Mrs. Stadtfeld had already gotten the answers she wanted from him.

"My Lady, we have arrived at the consulate," the driver's voice, female, said over the intercom. Come to think of it, all of Mrs. Stadtfeld's servants seemed to be female. Was that because her husband had suspected what she would do if there were male servants around the house in his absence? Then again, the late Prince Clovis had started a trend of using female limo drivers, so maybe Mrs. Stadtfeld had been simply following the latest fad among the nobility.

"Thank you," Mrs. Stadtfeld replied curtly. She raised her mask to her face and glanced at Lelouch. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"All we need to worry about is getting in the door," he replied with a smirk. "If we can achieve that, everything else will fall into place."

With that, he fastened his own mask in place, one that covered his entire face and was stylized to present a demonic visage, and donned a top hat that he had rented for the occasion. The result was that his costume strongly resembled Arsene, but in black and purple. A pair of red contact lenses completed his look, and served to hide his distinctive violet eyes.

The driver came around to open the limousine doors for them. As the first one out, Lelouch extended his hand to help Mrs. Stadtfeld out of the car in turn, as a proper gentleman would.

The front of the consulate was abuzz with activity. Numerous limousines, much like Mrs. Stadtfeld's, had already arrived, with more coming in by the minute, their passengers disembarking in costumes every bit if not more ostentatious than their own. A line had formed outside the gate leading into the consulate, and a number of journalists had arrived to report on the event as well.

But even more obvious were the security arrangements. Rows of Britannian Sutherlands, with Gloucester command units interspersed between them, lined the streets surrounding the consulate. Black Knights or not, the gathering would be an attractive target to a number of rebel groups throughout Area 11, particularly those with more terroristic leanings, so Britannia was taking no chances that the consulate might fall to a surprise attack.

The Chinese Federation seemed to be taking security seriously as well. Corrupt as the High Eunuchs were, they had some competent officers, Li Xingke among them. The consulate's guards were checking each guest's invitation before letting them in, and there appeared to be to be walk-through metal detectors standing unobtrusively along the red carpet leading inside.

But there was still a glaring flaw in their security. The fact that the Black Knights might arrive as plus-ones, or as guests with their own invitations, did not appear to have occurred to the guards, an oversight that Lelouch would exploit to the fullest.

He waited patiently in line at Mrs. Stadtfeld's side until it was time for her invitation to be checked.

"Lady Vanessa Stadtfeld, and her guest," the guard said, finding nothing amiss with him.

Under his mask, Lelouch grinned in triumph. The first objective had been cleared.

"That's correct," Mrs. Stadtfeld said sharply. "You should show more respect in the presence of real nobility, though I suppose they don't have much of that in the Chinese Federation these days, just a child for an Empress. Well, this is as good an opportunity as any to get to know your betters. I hope this party is worthwhile."

The guard bristled slightly, and Lelouch fought the urge to do the same. He knew that Mrs. Stadtfeld was putting on an act right now, pretending to be the same vain, cruel, and deeply racist woman that she had used to be. That act was necessary, and it was perfectly in-character for the role she needed to play, but it also took away any beauty that she had, making her seem repulsive.

"Incredible," Mrs. Stadtfeld said contemptuously as she glared at the guard. She grasped Lelouch's arm tightly. "Let's go, dear."

Mrs. Stadtfeld pulled him over the threshold, and after a short walk, they were within the outer plaza that Lelouch and the other Black Knights had previously observed from afar. Some guests were milling about, but most were making their way inward, to where the actual pre-reception was being held.

The interior of the real consulate was not as lavishly decorated as the gilded halls of Gao Hai's Palace, but it was still clearly designed to showcase the wealth and power of the Chinese Federation. Or rather, it was designed to showcase the wealth and power of the High Eunuchs. As Lelouch knew, and as he had seen in the Palace, most of the people of the Chinese Federation were desperately poor, squeezed ever harder to sate the High Eunuchs' greed for a time, though it would never be enough.

"Will you sign the guest book?" another guard stationed near the door asked as they began to move by him.

Annoyance flashed across Mrs. Stadtfeld's face, but she did so without another word, and handed the pen to Lelouch.

Lelouch thought for a moment. He obviously wasn't going to sign his real name. He was sorely tempted to write "Arsene Lupin", but an obviously fake name would only draw suspicion upon Mrs. Stadtfeld, and she was already risking enough in helping them. He settled for "Alan Spacer", a psuedonym he had used on occasion while gambling.

The guest book signed, the two of them blended in among the other guests. Scanning the hall, Lelouch could see that there was far more of the Area nobility in attendance than one might expect to respond to the invitation of someone, who was, on paper, simply a high-ranking Chinese bureaucrat. Evidently, many of them knew where the real power in the Chinese Federation lay. But Lelouch wasn't going to complain about the event being well-attended. It just made it easier for him to avoid notice among the crowd.

Now that he was inside the consulate, Lelouch had to link up with his fellow Black Knights, find Gao Hai, and then gain entrance to the Consul-General's chambers. Of course, there was one catch to that part of the plan.

Gao Hai had to see them do it. Only then might his Cognition change, so that the inner sanctum of the Palace was no longer seen as being inviolate to outsiders.

Of course, he had a number of excuses planned that should be innocuous enough. Even if they were escorted out of Gao Hai's chambers almost immediately, the change in Cognition would have already taken place, giving them access to the innermost parts of his Palace. Still, there was the possibility that the guards would try to detain them, but Nina was ready to create a diversion for them at a moment's notice, and the Metaverse was only a voice command away.

But as always, it was best to keep a low profile for as long as possible, so Lelouch started to dance with Mrs. Stadtfeld, playing his role as her date, while keeping his eyes open, watching for allies and foes alike.

He first saw Milly, dancing with Earl Asplund. She was wearing a very revealing blue dress that left her shoulders and upper arms bare, and her cleavage stretched down from the white collar that kept her dress in place down to her waist, exposing almost half of her breasts. Milly was one wrong move away from having a major wardrobe malfunction, yet she managed to keep her outfit together. She had accessorized it with elbow-length evening gloves, a flower in her hair, and a blue mask that glittered much like the one that she wore as Diamond.

The outfit as a whole did much to flatter Milly's figure, and Lelouch caught himself staring for a moment longer than he intended to, but it seemed to lack Milly's usual flair for wacky costumes. He suspected that the dress was something that her parents had told her to wear for the ball.

On his part, Earl Asplund was wearing a brown suit with gold epaulettes and a white undershirt. He looked distinctly out of place, as he wasn't wearing a mask, unlike most of the other guests, but Lelouch guessed that the Earl didn't particularly care. The Earl had an amused expression on his face, evidently more interested in the spectacle of the ball than his dancing partner.

Lelouch gave a nod in Milly's direction, and she nodded back and gave him a small grin before returning to her dance. She would have to accompany the Earl for some time longer for appearance's sake, but Lelouch knew that she would break off and start heading toward the back of the hall when she found a good opportunity to do so.

"That was the Ashfords' daughter," Mrs. Stadtfeld said quietly enough so that only Lelouch could hear her over the music of the waltz. "I hear that she's Earl Ashland's fiancée. I'm surprised he took any interest in a woman... or that he's lasted so long. The word is that Miss Ashford there normally makes her suitors run away after the first date. Yet judging from the glances that you two exchanged a moment ago, she's in on this as well. Am I wrong?"

Lelouch didn't respond, though judging from her expression, Mrs. Stadtfeld took his silence as confirmation.

"Oh! An oni here at the ball?" an excited voice called out, interrupting them.

Turning around, Lelouch saw a girl in a long, pink-kimono style dress, wearing a mask decorated with shimmering silver moon designs. Still, the voice, long black hair, and green eyes peering out from under the mask told him that it was none other than Kaguya Sumeragi.

"I don't think I've ever seen such a well-dressed oni before," Kaguya said with a smile.

Kallen was accompanying Kaguya. She had opted for a Britannian-styled dress, which was understandable, as she had a cover to maintain. The dress was ankle-length, with a cut in the front to show her legs, burgundy red, and had a light pink frilled hem. The top half of the dress was styled after a bodice, and it had a low neckline, though nowhere near as daring as Milly's. A much looser-fitting black collar wrapped around Kallen's shoulders, embroidered with golden patterns, and sheer pink fabric extended from it to cover her arms.

Kallen wore her hair in a style that Lelouch hadn't seen on her before, pulled back into a small bun, held in place by a hair ornament that was made to look like three tiny roses with pink and gold ribbons flowing out from them. Most of her hair remained straight, but there were some strands on the side and at the back of the bun that spiked out, making it look like a cross between her hairstyles as a student and as a Black Knight.

Her outfit was accessorized by open-toed high heels, short white gloves on her hands, and a choker, consisting of a pair of ribbons entwined around her neck, from which a rose pendant hung, festooned with a strand of golden leaves that led the eyes down toward her décolletage.

Lelouch felt his cheeks growing hot as he realized that he was staring again, but thankfully no one could see his discomfort under his mask.

Kallen completed her look with a mask adorned with lotus petals, a replica of the one that she wore in the Metaverse. As always, it hid most of her face, preventing him from fully reading her expression, but she stiffened and scowled as soon as she saw her stepmother.

"You look great," Lelouch told Kallen, both as a genuine compliment, and as an attempt to relieve the tension that had suddenly filled the air.

Mrs. Stadtfeld nodded. She seemed satisfied that he had at least shown some appreciation of Kallen. "I think I'll be getting a refreshment," she said, taking her cue to leave. "Don't get yourselves into something you can't handle."

"Hmm?" Kaguya asked, glancing at the departing Mrs. Stadtfeld. "Was she another of your Court Ladies? I didn't know that you were into older-"

"I'm not," Lelouch quickly replied.

"He's not," Kallen said in unison.

"Aww..." Kaguya said. "Well, at least the two of us had a good conversation on the way here," she said, looking up at Kallen. "She's so cool!"

"You really are pretty incredible yourself," Kallen said politely. The youngest head of Kyoto was from an old and distinguished family, and Japanese culture was highly deferential to authority and tradition. As rebellious as Kallen was, a measure of that was ingrained in her as well, though she certainly didn't recognize Britannian authority. But there was much that Kallen could have found to admire in Kaguya on her own merits, from her obvious intelligence and talent, to her own refusal to sell out to Britannian rule. Still, Kallen sounded slightly weary, as if keeping Kaguya company during their limousine ride together had tired her out.

"Well, I'll let you two dance first," Kaguya said, looking from Kallen to Lelouch. "I know I'll get my turn eventually, even if it's not tonight, and you're already his Court Lady, aren't you?."

Kallen looked like she wanted to say something, but she seemed to think better of it, and instead nodded gratefully.

"Shall we?" Lelouch asked, holding out his hand to Kallen.

She took it with her own and let him lead her into a dance. A waltz was far less physically demanding than the performance that she had put on for the Cognitive Garrison earlier in the Palace, but Lelouch was still impressed by how precise Kallen's movements were, even in a different style. Evidently at least some of the ballroom dancing training that had been forced upon her by her stepmother had stuck. As for himself, princes had to learn dancing from an early age, and he put those lessons into practice.

Kallen smiled a bit, but neither of them were truly relaxed. He could see her blue eyes darting back and forth underneath her mask, constantly scanning the room for potential threats.

Lelouch and Kallen hadn't been dancing for long when they heard a small clamor of voices from near the entrance, marking the arrival of a pair of young women, who were receiving quite a positive reception. One had flowing light-blonde tresses, and wore a costume styled after a black butterfly, with a veil that covered the upper half of her face taking the place of a mask. Her companion, standing just behind her, also had long hair, but coppery-red, and was dressed as a fairy, with gossamer wings strapped to her back, a long green dress embroidered with gold patterns, and a domino mask, half gold and half white, embellished with intricate patterns and decorated with a lily on the side.

Lelouch recognized them at once: Leila and Shirley. The redhead's body language told him that she felt overwhelmed by all of the attention that she was receiving alongside Leila, while the young Countess didn't let any signs of the annoyance that she must feel show through. She had much more practice at concealing her emotions than Shirley did, who had always worn them on her sleeve.

Coming with another girl and wearing mourning colors should have been a strong hint to any would-be suitors that Leila wasn't interested in their advances, but apparently she was still considered one of the most eligible bachelorettes in Area 11. Beneath her veil, she could maintain a pretense of anonymity, but she was too well-known among the Area's nobility after being publicly courted by Prince Clovis to avoid being recognized by the more observant guests. Then again, not many people had such voluminous blonde hair like Leila's, even within the circles of the nobility, so that was a bit of a giveaway. Someone with Leila's looks would also draw a certain amount of attention whether she was recognized or not, or so his Personas whispered to him.

Shirley enjoyed actual anonymity among the other guests. As a commoner, the nobles attending the party, save for the few associated with Ashford Academy, had no reason to know her. Of course, that wouldn't stop them from trying to futilely guess who she might be. Their natural assumption would be that Shirley was a fellow noble, who had yet to make a formal debut, and a close friend of the Countess, perhaps from St. Lucia's. They would never imagine that a commoner would attend the party, let alone in such a fancy costume.

Milly was of course an exception to that rule. While technically a commoner now, she was ex-nobility and engaged to an Earl. Moreover, even with their reduced status, the Ashfords were still fairly wealthy through shrewd investments, and had a number of friends thanks to Ruben's connections, so Milly was accepted among the nobles. But if the other guests knew that Shirley was, a commoner, a nobody in their eyes, she would have received a far icier reception. They'd say that she had no business at a high-society party, and they'd mercilessly hound her for daring to rise above her station. The thought of it made Lelouch's blood boil.

"Let's give them a hand," Lelouch said to Kallen.

Kallen nodded. She wasn't going to tolerate anyone harassing Shirley, and as much as she might be wary of Leila, she was still a fellow Black Knight. Milly noticed what they were doing as well, and, after excusing herself from Earl Asplund's side, joined them as they made their way across the floor.

Yet as they drew near, the crowd around Leila and Shirley began to disperse, the other guests suddenly giving them a large berth. Like a ripple rushing out across a pond, a new commotion started among those closest to them, while those further out strained to see, reverential and suspicious whispers circulating among them.

"His Majesty's -"

"Out here in Area 11?

"Do you you think?"

"Not one but-"

Lelouch felt himself filled with a sudden dread. To cause that sort of reaction in nobles... And did they say "His Majesty's"...?

The crowd cleared enough for him to see the cause of the commotion, a young man, slightly over six feet tall with blonde hair and handsome features that a mask did little to hide, who was now standing at Shirley's side, holding her hand in his, as if to escort her away from the nobles that had threatened to smother her.. There seemed to be nothing outwardly menacing or forceful about his manner, though Shirley was clearly flustered. Tinges of red crept out from under her mask, seemingly so shocked by the suddenness in which the man had approached her that she was still struggling to form a coherent response.

Leila flanked the man, and appeared to be speaking to him, undoubtedly seeking a way to secure Shirley's release. At the same time, she moved along with them, using the man's presence as an excuse to escape the crowd, though she did not hold his hand as well.

Lelouch couldn't help but feel angry at the sight of the man hold Shirley like that, but almost immediately those thoughts were pushed aside by something far more alarming. He recognized the symbol emblazoned on the green cloak draped around the man's shoulders, as well as the formal white suit and black undershirt beneath it.

The man wasn't wearing a costume. It was a military uniform, signifying that the man wasn't any ordinary Britannian officer, but a member of the Knights of the Round, the elite order of Britannia's deadliest warriors, answerable only to the Emperor himself. Lelouch would never be able to mistake that uniform for anything else. It was the same order to which his mother had belonged prior to becoming an Empress, serving as the Knight of Six.

Damn! His father wouldn't casually send Knights of the Round to a party like this. They were here because the proceedings were important to his father's plans. He began to think frantically. Some might think that the historic union between Britannia and the Chinese Federation was reason enough for his father's agents to be here, but there had to be more to it than that.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that the Black Knights would either target Gao Hai or Schneizel next. Had his father specifically sent the Knights of the Round to deal with the Black Knights? And if so, then how much did his father know?

He had to assume that Britannia's Cognitive Psience research program went highest levels, carried out with the knowledge and approval of the Emperor himself. How else could his father possibly threaten Igor, a being who resided in the Metaverse, with Ragnarok? Could the Knight of the Round before them be a Persona-user himself? Worse, might all of the Knights of the Round be Persona-users?!

Kallen seemed to notice his distress, and squeezed his hand, silently reminding him that she would always be by his side, protecting him to the very end. Lelouch squeezed Kallen's hand back, calming himself down a bit. Perilous as their situation was, all was not lost by any means. The Knight of the Round had shown no signs of recognizing any of them and as Black Knights, and he still sensed no aggression from the young man. They still had a chance as long as none of them did something foolish that would give them away.

Seeing them approach, a boyish grin spread on the Knight of the Round's face. "My, my! So many beauties in one place!" the Knight of the Round said, his voice now overly friendly. "It must be my lucky day!" The Knight of the Round glanced his companions, and after a moment the Knight's gaze settled on Kallen. "You're pretty cute, if I say so myself."

Lelouch bristled. It was bad enough that this Knight of the Round had taken hold of Shirley, but now he was hitting on Kallen as well. It was typical Britannian arrogance. He must surely think that just because he was handsome and had status that girls would be swooning over him. All too often, he'd be right. But of course, the other Black Knights weren't ordinary girls.

"Sorry, I'm already taken," Kallen said, scarcely trying to hide the hostility in her voice. Lelouch felt her quickly wrap an arm around him, but he also noticed that Kallen was adjusting her stance, preparing to fight if necessary.

"A shame!" The Knight of the Round frowned. "You're even a bit feisty too! I like that in a girl."

"Do you normally drag off any girl who strikes your fancy?" Kallen pressed, having none of it. "Some Knight you are. That's my friend there. Can't you see that you're bothering her?" Kallen would have never been so bold in her guise as a sickly schoolgirl, but hidden behind a mask, her true personality shone through.

"I am?" The Knight of the Round asked, sounding genuinely surprised. He glanced over at Shirley, and promptly released her hand when he saw her expression. He gave a small chuckle. "Sorry if I came off as rude. I'd never mistreat a lady such as you. I just thought you needed some help getting away from that crowd. If it's your first time at a party like this, it's pretty easy to get overwhelmed."

Lelouch knew that the reason that Shirley and Leila had been mobbed had more to do with the fact that it was the Countess' first public appearance since Prince Clovis' state funeral, but he chose to remain silent.

Shirley nodded slowly. "Um, thank you, Sir... Um... Sir-" She seemed unsure of how to address someone of so much higher social status, and she appeared to grow even more uncomfortable as she realized that she didn't know his name.

"We are grateful for your assistance," Leila said diplomatically, at once coming to Shirley's aid and drawing the Knight's attention to herself. "You must be Sir Weinberg. You were named to the Knights of the Round just a few days ago. I saw it in the news."

"Yeah, that's me," the Knight of the said with a good-natured laugh. "I know it's supposed to be a masquerade, but there's not much point in hiding it. But 'Sir Weinberg' sounds so formal. You can call me Gino if you want. That's what my friends call me."

The surname Weinberg was a familiar one to Lelouch. It had been wealthy and influential since the early days of Britannia, and one of its members had even been the personal Knight to a reigning Empress who was said to be the ancestor of the li Britannia line. It was conceivable that the Emperor might have even named Gino to the Knights of the Round as a favor to the Weinbergs because they were one of a key group of high-ranking noble families whose support that he needed in the court. The Emperor could not simply rule by the force of his personality alone, formidable as it was, no matter what official Imperial propaganda wanted people to believe.

"It's quite an accomplishment to be named to the Knights of the Round at your age," Leila said. "Off the top of my head, I can only think of few that have been younger."

Under his mask, Lelouch grinned. Did she also suspect that Gino had gotten his position through nepotism? If so, that was a perfect backhanded compliment, masquerading as flattery.

"Funny that you should mention that," Gino said with a wry look, but after a moment it changed into a big grin. "But I'm still one of the best pilots around!"

"I wonder though, what brings you to Area 11" Leila asked.

"I admit, it's not what I thought my first assignment as a Knight of the Round would be," Gino replied. "Not that I'm complaining! But we've got the Prime Minister here, two other royals, plus dignitaries from the Chinese Federation. We're keeping an eyes on things just in-"

"Found you," a female voice said, oddly devoid of emotion. Another Knight of the Round approached, previously hidden from sight among the crowd. She stood shorter than most than the guests, and at least a full foot less than Gino. She was clearly younger than her fellow Knight of the Round, and couldn't have been any older than Nunnally or Kaguya. Impossibly young as that seemed, Lelouch knew that it would be highly unwise to underestimate anyone whom his father had made a Knight of the Round. Each and every one of them was a force to be reckoned with.

While the girl's uniform bore the same imperial symbol as Gino's did, her cloak was pink instead of green, matching her light rose hair, which was done up in a bun that diverged into a short pair of twintails, with longer bangs framing her face. The rest of her uniform was clearly not regulation, though as a Knight of the Round she naturally had great latitude in such matters. Rather than a white coat, she wore a white vest, and the undershirt was replaced with a black two-piece that uncomfortably reminding Lelouch of how revealing Nunnally's thief outfit as Nemo was.

The girl wore a white mask in a concession to the event, but through it Lelouch could see that she had red irises. Her face had a certain elegance to it that the nobility considered classically beautiful, and she could have easily grown up to embody the traditional image of a proper Britannian lady had she not become a Knight of the Round.

"You talk too much, Gino," the younger Knight of the Round said.

"Lady Alstreim!" Leila gasped, sounding as surprised to see her there as he was. "The Knight of Six, and the youngest person ever to be appointed to the Knights of the Round!"

"Yeah, Anya there has me beat," Gino laughed, gesturing down at his partner. "She's a real prodigy when it comes to piloting a Knightmare. Give her a few more years, and some in Pendragon say that she could practically be the second coming of Marianne the Flash!"

Lelouch looked at Anya in disbelief. Not only was she a Knight of the Round, but she was the successor to his mother's title?!

Anya seemed to notice that he was staring for, and looked up directly at him, meeting his gaze. For a moment, Lelouch had a feeling that she saw through him.

A light flashed from an object that Anya had raised in her hands. A phone? Then it struck him. A Knight of the Round had just taken a picture of him, Kallen, and Milly!

Anya's phone flashed again, this time taking a picture of Leila and Shirley. Lelouch continued to internally panic. Anya's phone was separate from the security mainframe! Those pictures wouldn't be erased when Nina wiped the tapes. Unless they could separate Anya from her phone, a Knight of the Round would be carrying evidence that could potentially be used against them! But how could he take her phone without causing a scene that would attract even more attention to them?

"Recorded," Anya said, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil that she had just caused.

"Does she always take pictures like that?" Milly asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yeah, that's Anya for you," Gino replied. "Anya has trouble remembering things sometimes, so she takes pictures for her diary. That way she can remind herself of the places she's been to and the people she's seen. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," Milly said.

"Of course," Shirley nodded.

Leila did so as well, and put on a smile. "I hope you find many memories to cherish, Lady Alstreim."

It wasn't a bad strategy. By pretending that having their pictures taken during an infiltration didn't bother them, they were less likely to arouse suspicion on Anya's part. In turn, if Anya had no reason to show the pictures to anyone else or think of them as anything but memories from a party, then no harm would come of them.

Anya looked liked she didn't know how to respond to Leila's show of kindness. But after a moment, Anya briefly returned the nod, and then turned her attention back to her partner.

"Are we done here?" she asked.

"I suppose we do have to get going," Gino admitted. "The Consul-General and the Prime Minister will be speaking soon, and we don't want to be late."

So Schneizel was here! While he had considered the possibility, its confirmation was most unwelcome news. It was unlikely that Schneizel was in the habit of asking Knights of the Round to show him their phones, as to do so without good reason would be seen as an affront to the Emperor. But they would all be in trouble if Schneizel ever saw those photos. By themselves, the pictures weren't much to go on, but Schneizel was never to be underestimated.

"Have fun!" Gino called back with a friendly wave as he departed with Anya.

Lelouch released a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding. In the end, Schneizel and the Knights of the Round being here didn't change what they had to do. It only increased the stakes enormously.

Still, that likely explained where Euphemia was. As the Third Princess, she would be obliged to meet with Schneizel, and to do otherwise would invite suspicion upon her. Thankfully, Lelouch knew that she could handle herself around Schneizel without giving herself away, as she had done on Kamine Island.

That left Arthur, who was with the Irregulars. Even now, they would be making their way toward the Cognitive barrier in Gao Hai's Palace, ready to assist them in the Metaverse if need be. Sayoko was also in the consulate, still impersonating a staff member, waiting to help them clear a path to Gao Hai's chamber or serve as a diversion as needed.

The music of the current waltz ended, and the distinctive chords of "All Hail Britannia" cut in.

"Announcing the Prime Minister of the Holy Britannian Empire, Second Prince Schneizel el Britannia."

Schneizel strode into view, climbing onto a dais set up at back of the hall, where a podium had been set up, joined by the Knights of the Round, who stood at attention as they assumed their positions at his sides. Schneizel did not wear a mask, though with his skill as a manipulator, he didn't really need one, as he was more than capable of presenting different faces to different people as needed to advance his goals.

A small procession followed the Prime Minister. There was a rose-haired man, with an androgynous appearance, dressed in blue-green noble attire, who seemed to be serving as Schneizel's assistant, standing behind and to the right of the Second Prince. Lelouch would have thought that the man was dwarfed by Schneizel, but standing at six feet and seven inches, Schneizel dwarfed almost everyone he met, with the exception of the Emperor.

Their target, Gao Hai, took his place behind Schneizel and to his left. He was dressed much as they had seen him in official pictures, and like Schneizel dispensed with wearing a mask. The paleness of Gao Hai's skin and his makeup gave him a somewhat unsettling appearance, and there was a certain smugness in the Consul-General's slight smile, yet few would guess the extent of the callous greed that they had seen in his Palace just by looking at him.

Two more individuals took their places on the dais, behind Schneizel's assistant and Gao Hai. Predictably, one of them was Princess Euphemia, wearing an elaborate white ball dress, adorned with pink flowers, that may well have been designed by Clovis. Her mask seemed to be patterned off Noire's, but with the colors inverted. Still, he would recognize his half-sister anywhere; that long pink hair of hers was unmistakable.

As was custom, a knight served as Euphemia's escort, dressed in a ceremonial white uniform, trimmed in gold, though more understated next to the uniforms of the Knights of the Round flanking Schneizel. But Lelouch did a take when he realized exactly who that Knight was - his best friend from before the war, Suzaku Kururugi.

What was Suzaku doing up there?! He knew that Suzaku worked for Britannia as a soldier, but since when had Suzaku become a Knight? Suzaku had never told him about that!

The assembled guests seemed almost as surprised as he was, but their reaction was one of hostility. What was an Eleven doing at the Third Princess' side? How dare he rise so far above his station?

Through it all, Suzaku remained rigidly at attention, as if the crowd's jeers didn't faze him at all. After years working for the Empire, it seemed that his old friend had gotten distressingly accustomed to the abuse that racist Britannians heaped upon him every day.

Lelouch's mind continued to feverishly search for an explanation of Suzaku's presence at the ball, yet another in a series of unwelcome revelations. Had it been Euphy's idea? No, she would have told them if Suzaku was going to be escorting her! This had been a surprise to her too. It wouldn't be Cornelia's doing either. Cornelia had many loyal knights serving her, any one of which she could have assigned to escort Euphemia. What Cornelia would never have done was order a Japanese man to look after her younger sister. Cornelia might not be as rabidly racist as the Purists had been, but she was still a firm believer in Britannian superiority over the Numbers. If anything, Cornelia would be furious!

That left Schneizel. As the Prime Minister, Schneizel had the authority and savvy to pull some strings and get Suzaku assigned to Euphy as a knight. But Schneizel had to have anticipated the reaction of the crowd, not to mention Cornelia's when she found out. On the face of it, there wasn't an obvious benefit to Schneizel, which Lelouch found to be even more disconcerting. Schneizel was a master strategist. Every move that Schneizel made was carefully calculated to bring him closer to victory. For Schneizel to accept the backlash that would undoubtedly ensue, the anticipated benefits of the gambit had to be substantial indeed. But what was the Second Prince planning?!

Come to think of it, there was something that Euphy had mentioned about her first encounter with Suzaku. His friend had told her that-

At the podium, Schneziel raised a hand slightly, and at once the hall, which had been in an uproar over Suzaku's appearance, fell silent. Cameramen from Britannian news organizations lined up in front of him, ready to begin broadcasting.

"I am delighted that you could all make it here tonight," Schneizel began, his words like a spell that kept the crowd enthralled. "We stand at the dawn of a new era, joined by our friends from the Chinese Federation and your Sub-Viceroy, Princess Euphemia. In a mere two weeks, my brother, Crown Prince Odysseus, will wed Empress Tianzi of the Chinese Federation, bringing about a lasting peace between our great nations. No longer shall petty desires divide us. Yet this is only the beginning. Together, we shall establish a system of power that shall bring order to a world wracked by starvation and poverty, discrimination and corruption, war and terrorism. Only when there is security and stability will people truly be able to understand each other. Then we shall have a world united as never before, bringing new prosperity to all."

Schneizel paused. "But these are trying times, perhaps for you most of all. You suffered the loss of Prince Clovis, a gentle, generous, and gifted soul, lost to the chaos that has plagued Area 11 during these last few months. I have no doubt that in their own minds, the Black Knights and those like them are well-intentioned, but they would undo all that we have sacrificed for, pushing us off the precipice of ruin and plunging us into chaos out of a misguided sense of righteousness. By acting outside of the law, they strike against the fabric society itself, spreading distrust and fear among us, and encouraging vigilantism that leads to needless violence."

"And so, if they are listening, as I suspect they are, I implore them to step out of the shadows and work with us instead of hiding like common thieves. With their talents, they could do much to help us build a brighter future together. But if they refuse, you needn't worry about anything. Simply place your faith in me, Viceroy Cornelia, and the proper authorities. With the power vested in us by His Majesty, we shall see to it that the Black Knights are brought to justice for their crimes, once and for all."

The crowd cheered, and a deafening applause filled the consulate. On the dais, Euphemia was obliged to clap politely for her half-brother's speech as well, horrifying as she must have found its contents. Glancing at his fellow Black Knights, he saw that they felt the same way. Schneizel had just outlined a vision of world domination in which freedom would be surrendered in the name of security, swept Clovis' monstrous crimes under the rug, and poisoned public opinion against the Black Knights, all while encouraging people to blindly trust in Britannian authority. It was the antithesis of everything that they believed in.

But why did Schneizel even bring up the Black Knights in the first place? Did he know they were there? Was it simply a goad to trick them into revealing themselves?

Schneizel raised his hand again, and the applause ceased as quickly as it had started. "Thank you. But we must not forget to thank the Consul-General, without whose cooperation and hospitality this night would not be possible." He stepped back from the podium, and allowed Gao Hai to step forward. This time, the cameramen did not begin recording.

"Thank you, Prince Schneizel," Gao Hai said, his voice high-pitched nasally, and with an air of affectation that Lelouch immediately found irritating. "On the behalf of the Chinese Federation and our Empress, I would like to thank you for taking the time to accept our invitation. We have so many distinguished guests here tonight, and it will be my pleasure to get to know each of you in turn, and provide you with a taste of the wealth and hospitality of the Chinese Federation."

Gao Hai made a small, self-satisfied smile. "As your Prime Minister said, this union will be mutually profitable for the Chinese Federation and Britannia, and will open new opportunities for us all. I know that many of you run your own companies, and when our alliance is secured by the marriage of our Empress to your First Prince, you will have unprecedented access to the largest untapped markets in the world, and you will find no shortage of eager workers. Our people are among the most industrious that you'll ever find, and will not disappoint you."

"He's not even trying to hide it," Kallen whispered contemptuously.

Lelouch nodded. Gao Hai was selling out the Chinese people to Britannia, as if they were already little more than slaves, which was of course true, given what they had seen in his Palace. Lelouch doubted that the Consul-General's speech by itself would be enough to topple the High Eunuchs, but he sincerely hoped that Nina had managed to record it on the hacked security system and transfer the data to her terminal. If they could leak it onto the Internet around the time that Gao Hai made his confession, it would serve to compound the damage, turning public opinion even more decisively against the High Eunuchs.

"Now let us all enjoy the festivities!" Gao Hai concluded.

The waltz music resumed, and the Consul-General descended to mingle with his future peers among the Britannian nobility. This was it. At least one of them had to make their way to Gao Hai's chambers. The others would have to ensure that Gao Hai made his way back there, while keeping an eye out for Schneizel, the Knights of the Round, and now Suzaku as well. And of course, there was Li Xingke to consider. Lelouch hadn't seen the bodyguard yet at the party, but he was certainly around.

As always, the key was to remain inconspicuous. They were relatively safe among the crowd, but the closer they got to their objective, the more careful they would have to be. Suzaku in particular was likely to recognize fellow members of the Student Council, even in costume. Lelouch was glad that he had taken the effort to make sure that each of his teammates had an excuse to be there. He didn't have a proper alibi for why Lelouch Lamperouge should be at the party, should Suzaku ask, but that was why he had made sure that he was fully masked.

The guests around them were dancing, so Lelouch followed their lead, taking Shirley as his partner. Technically, this was a risk. Suzaku would find it odd if he saw Shirley dancing with someone else when she hadn't gotten over her longstanding crush. But they had some time before they had to worry about Suzaku picking them out of the crowd, and it wouldn't be fair to Shirley if he danced with Kallen and Mrs. Stadtfeld at the ball but not her.

The other Black Knights spread out so that they could keep watch for and if necessary distract anyone who might take too close of an interest in their group. Their earlier encounter suggested that Kallen could be counted upon to divert Gino if he got too close, though she would rebuff any of his advances. That might occupy Anya as well, as she seemed to stick close to her partner. Leila was practiced at making meaningless small talk with other nobles when required, though she had another role to play once they reached the back of the hall. Milly couldn't remain away from Lloyd's side for much longer without attracting suspicion, but if the opportunity arose, she too could stall others with her whimsy. As for Euphemia, it would be impossible to coordinate with her without alerting Suzaku, but the Sub-Viceroy was naturally a magnet for attention, and that would serve their purpose well.

Returning to the present moment, Lelouch saw that Shirley had been able to relax a bit in his arms, a beautiful smile spreading on her face as they moved with the music together.

"This feels like a dream... like I'm Cinderella at the ball," she told him. "But it can't last, can it?"

"We still have time," he assured her.

She shook her head. "I wish we could keep dancing like this forever, but you have a job to do."

Lelouch nodded. He was pleased to see that there were several tables with chess boards set up near the back of the hall, just as he had anticipated. High-stakes chess matches remained as popular ever among the Britannian nobility, and someone at the consulate had clearly taken note of that, seeking to make their guests feel at home. The only more popular pastimes for nobles seemed to be invading other countries and court intrigues.

Plan A could proceed. He would enter Gao Hai's quarters under the pretense of finding a secluded location for a private chess match. Of course, his opponent would be a fellow Black Knight. Leila was ideal for this role. She was known to sometimes engage in antisocial behavior at parties, like reading books, and had played chess in private with Clovis during one of his parties, so it would not seem unusual for her to sneak off. They would play a few normal matches first so that their private match would not have the appearance of being premeditated. When they were discovered, her own noble rank and connections through her company would serve to help keep them from being arrested, provided that they weren't doing anything else that was obviously illegal.

In the corner of eye, Lelouch saw that Leila was continuing to make steady progress toward the chess tables. But then, Lelouch saw a towering figure, garbed in white, moving in the same direction as her. Schneizel! As a chess grandmaster, Schneizel would always welcome the opportunity to challenge a worthy opponent, but most of the Area nobility would prove no match for a player of his caliber. It would only bore the Second Prince, if they were foolish enough to challenge him at all. But if Schneizel saw that there was an unusually skilled player nearby...

Under different circumstances, Lelouch might have welcomed the opportunity to test his mettle against his half brother while incognito. However, if people saw that the Second Prince had encountered a challenger who could actually give him a run for his money, it would instantly turn into a spectacle, eliminating his freedom of movement through the consulate and preventing him from joining the others in the Metaverse. True, Nunnally would be waiting there to support the Black Knights with the Irregulars, but he was loathe to the idea of not being there to lead his team personally. Admittedly, challenging Schneizel to a match could be a highly effective diversion if he was willing to accept that, but the danger would grow exponentially with time spent in Schneizel's immediate presence. He could fall back to Plan B, but that-

Under his mask, Lelouch blanched. The girls in the Black Knights would never let him hear the end of it if he went with Plan B, and with his relative inexperience, there was a much greater chance of failure.

Schneizel had reached Leila's position, greeting her with all of the usual charm that came effortlessly to a master manipulator. Of course Schneizel would recognize her. Leila turned and curtseys, exchanging pleasantries with the Second Prince. Lelouch couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but he knew that Leila was now committed to the conversation. To brush off Schneizel would be a grave insult, and she couldn't afford to have her loyalties called into question. The best she could do now was to stall Schneizel for as long as possible.

Lelouch knew that Leila was too intelligent to fall for Schneizel's guise, and she had survived an encounter with the Second Prince before at Clovis' state funeral. But he nonetheless felt a pang of worry for her. He could have told himself that it was simple concern for a fellow Black Knight, but he knew that would be a lie. It was a far more acute feeling, the same sort of anxiety he experienced when worrying about Kallen or Shirley's wellbeing. And of course, there had been that dream...

Lelouch cut off that line of thought. He had to remain focused! Leila was giving him an opportunity, and he couldn't afford to waste it.

He quickly scanned the chess tables. While it would be ideal if his opponent was another Black Knight, Gao Hai's Cognition would be changed just as well if he could trick some unwitting noble into accepting a private match against him. They would be a patsy, yes, but they would not have to feign innocence when they were caught with him. That could go a long way toward convincing the guards to let them go. But whoever it was would have to have a competitive streak, or they would be unlikely to accept his challenge.

After a moment, Lelouch found the opponent he was searching for. A woman, about his own age and wearing a dark dress trimmed in crimson that seemed to be a Renaissance era take on a witch's costume, was seated at one of the chess tables, in the process of trouncing another noble. Her features were hidden behind an emerald green mask, but her hair reminded him of Euphy's, pinkish but of a redder shade. It might even be of similar length to Euphy's, though the woman's hair was gathered up behind her in a bun, so it was difficult to be sure.

Standing behind her was another masked woman, with a blonde ponytail and the bearing of a knight. The blonde was dressed in crimson, but her outfit, styled after a matador, was very obviously cut to flatter her figure.

Lelouch gave a glance in Leila's direction, and saw that she was subtly leading Schneizel further away from the chess tables as they talked. Lelouch worried that Schneizel was simply playing along with her, enjoying a game of cat and mouse, but any diversion, however tenuous, would have to do for now. And so as the emerald-masked woman in black checkmated her opponent and claimed her winnings, Lelouch approached her.

"I see you could use a more challenging opponent," he said, projecting what he was sure was just the right note of arrogance so that she would feel compelled to try to put him in his place.

The woman looked up, tilting her head curiously and revealing to Lelouch through her mask a pair of eyes that were the exactly same blue-violet shade as Euphy's.

"Do I know you?" she asked, her voice tantalizingly familiar, yet at the same time different than any that he remembered, filling him with a discomforting sense of déjà vu.

"We've never met," he replied firmly.

"I wonder..." she murmured.

"Perhaps it was somewhere over the rainbow?" the blonde offered.

"That could be," the emerald-masked woman smiled. She nodded at Lelouch. "Take a seat. Let's see if you're as good as you claim you are."

The plan was back on track for now, though there were many variables in play that he would have to carefully balance to achieve his goals. His opponent possessed unknown yet obviously considerable skill, and he would need to play a close enough game, with either a narrow victory or a draw, that she wouldn't feel satisfied without another match. He would also have to determine exactly which buttons of hers needed to be pushed so that she would be intrigued enough to join him in private.

Of course, all while the emerald-masked woman and her blonde bodyguard would be trying to figure out what his game really was. Speed was of the essence. The longer the game went on, the more likely it was that a crowd would gather, stifling his freedom of movement, or that he would be discovered. And then he would have to deal with whatever other complications that Lady Fortune planned at throwing at him tonight. After all that had already happened, he doubted that he had seen the last of them.

Under his mask, Lelouch grinned manically.

If any obstacle stood in his way, he would smash it, even fate itself.

"I'll take Black, if you don't mind," he told his opponent.

He was looking forward to a challenge.

 **A/N:**

 **Mrs. Stadtfeld is not given a canonical first name. After brainstorming a number of ideas, each chosen to be a meaningful name of some kind or the other, I sought feedback from a small group of my regular readers, and 'Vanessa' emerged as the most popular choice by far. The intended meaning of the name, as it pertains to her character, is twofold. Firstly, the first part of "Vanessa" sounds somewhat like "vain", which describes Mrs. Stadtfeld's personality prior to her change of heart. The second reason is as a nod to Disney's "The Little Mermaid". 'Vanessa' was the name of Ursula's alter ego, which acted to interfere with Ariel's budding relationship with the prince. I saw this as a loose parallel to how the expectation for Lord Stadtfeld to marry a proper Britannian noblewoman (the future Mrs. Stadtfeld), rather than a Japanese woman, ultimately spelled the doom for the relationship that Kallen's mother had with him.**

 **Those familiar with R2 will of course notice that Lelouch is encountering the Knights of the Round a year ahead of schedule. On the face of it, we could chalk it up to the Emperor wanting to fill the unexpected vacancy left by the Knight of Ten after his change of heart. But as I dug into it, the more confusing and apparently contradictory the timeline of who became a Knight of the Round when became. So I decided not to worry too much about accuracy in this particular case, and I hope no one will mind overmuch. Whether Gino and Anya show up now or become Knights a year later as in canon, they're still absurdly young for their ranks in any case.**

 **As an aside, if the wiki is to be believed, Lelouch's Black Rebellion in the first season supposedly was accomplished within three weeks from when Clovis met his end. That seems unrealistically fast, even for a genius like Lelouch.** **If it was really that fast, Cornelia should have either been a lot more freaked out about the Black Knights than she was, or she would have barely seen them coming.**

 **Of course, Anya's presence implies certain things. She was a later addition to my plans, and at first I had thought the divergences in the backstory would mean that she wouldn't have a role at all. But as I continued to write, I thought of ways in which she could plausibly appear in this story, and those ideas became much clearer after Persona 5 Royal was released. And that is all that I will say on the matter, to avoid spoilers on either side of the crossover.**

 **I really did think I would have more action in this chapter, but the necessity of introducing a number of characters made it so that I had to alter my plans. However, now that the pieces are in place, I can promise that the next chapter will have action in it, and that we will be finally be wrapped up with the ball sequence.**

 **And I haven't forgotten about that cliffhanger with the Black Mask from the last chapter... Don't worry about that...**

 **Thanks for reading, and until next time!**


	57. The Awakened Dragon

"I didn't expect you to leave me to occupy the center so easily," his opponent said curiously, gazing at him through her emerald green mask. "Most, with only an amateur knowledge of the game, would assume right now that you don't know what you're doing. Everyone knows that controlling the center is fundamental to chess strategy. But you don't need to occupy the center to control it. You're using a hypermodern approach, aren't you? You want to let me overextend myself, so that you can then undermine my position."

Lelouch didn't answer her, leaving his opponent only with the ticking of the chess clock, counting down the time that he had to make his next move. She was simply trying to unnerve him.

Of course, she had analyzed his strategy correctly. 'Hypermodern' was a bit of a misnomer these days, since that school of chess had originated nearly forty years ago, but it had largely developed in Europia, while Britannian nobles, stagnant and as self-assured in their own misplaced sense of superiority as always had largely ignored it. He usually preferred a more aggressive style, but he could still appreciate the hypermodern school and put its principles into effective practice. The mass of white pieces in the center of the board reminded him of Britannia's juggernaut, but it would soon fall to attacks from his black pieces on all sides.

There was another reason he had chosen a hypermodern opening to his game. One of hypermodernism's key strategies was prophylaxis, the positioning of one's pieces so that the moves an opponent could make without exposing themselves to a counterattack would be sharply restricted. From what he had glimpsed of his opponent's last match, she had employed an aggressive but orthodox approach, so his strategy was sure to frustrate her. If she was frustrated, she might make mistakes, and then her pride would demand a rematch.

But his opponent continued to play methodically. She actually was quite good. She wasn't quite at Schneizel's level, but she was at least as skilled as Leila.

"I hope you don't mind, but there's something I've been wondering about," the emerald-masked woman said as she considered her next move. "I just arrived from the Homeland a few days ago, but are these 'Black Knights' really enough of an issue here for His Highness to mention them in his speech? I know that they were involved in Prince Clovis' change of heart, but back in Pendragon, it seems that all anyone can talk about these days is the Glinda Knights."

Why would she just ask that out of the blue? The emerald-masked woman's tone was carefully managed to sound nonchalant, but Lelouch sensed that the question was carefully calculated, with a deeper motive behind it than the mere upper-class ennui than she would like him to believe it was. It was a trick his was intimately familiar with in his mask as Lelouch Lamperouge back at Ashford Academy, and so he picked up on it far more easily than others would.

She would likely lose interest in him if his answer was too safe, insofar as mainstream Britannian politics went, so he decided to make a calculated gamble of his own.

"Of course that's all they're talking about back in Pendragon. You saw what they did after Prince Schneizel's speech, when it was the Consul-General's turn to speak. All the cameras stopped rolling, because they didn't want the public to hear it. I would bet that the government has placed media restrictions on what can be reported on the Black Knights back in the Homeland. That alone shows that they consider the Black Knights to be a threat. But the stories manage to get out here, through unofficial channels." He had Diethard to thank for that.

"Like KnightWatch," the woman supplied.

"You're well-informed."

"I try to be. The truth is in short supply these days. It makes your honesty refreshing."

Lelouch laughed. "You would trust a man in a mask? I'm anything but honest."

The emerald-masked woman made her move. "Man is least himself when he talks in his own person..."

"Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth," Lelouch said, completing the quote. Oscar Wilde?

"It seemed fitting for the occasion and the company."

Lelouch chuckled in wry amusement. "Touché."

The match continued, but eventually it became clear that with the current state of the board, a stalemate would be the inevitable conclusion.

"Shall we call it a draw?" Lelouch asked.

His opponent frowned. "You were holding back, weren't you? That match didn't have to end in a stalemate. There was a point where, if you had gone on the offensive, you could have claimed victory. You had to have known that. So why didn't you?"

Lelouch smirked under his mask. He had her intrigued. Another objective was cleared.

"I admit it. Sometimes when one of my opponents thinks that they could have won, they'll be eager to agree to another match, thinking that they can win back their wager and then some. But I doubt you'd be interested in such a thing. Besides, you're too young to be gambling, are you? You said that you recently came over from the Homeland, didn't you. Judging from that, and your appearance, I'd guess that you're a student."

Annoyance flashed across the emerald-masked woman's eyes.

"Don't let him goad you," the blonde bodyguard said behind her.

"It's fine, Oz," the emerald-masked woman said. She returned her attention to Lelouch. "You've taken particular pains to hide your identity, moreso than most of the other guests here. You have something that you're trying to hide. Perhaps you're not old enough to be gambling either."

She was perceptive, and that made her dangerous, but she had let slip that her blonde bodyguard was called "Oz." He doubted that it was the blonde's real name, but it was at the very least a nickname. The emerald-masked had shown herself to be intelligent enough that it could have been a nickname she made up on the fly, but given that 'Oz' did not react with any sort of confusion, it was clearly one that she recognized.

"Still, nothing says that we have to bet money," the emerald-masked woman continued, a wicked tone entering her voice. "You want to play again? Fine. But if I win, you need to show me who you are underneath that mask. You remind me of someone, and I'm finding myself rather curious to see who you really are."

"I'll accept that challenge," Lelouch said smoothly, "if you're willing to do the same." The sense that he knew her was growing stronger by the moment.

"Deal," the emerald-masked woman replied.

"But why should those who didn't earn it share in the prize?" Lelouch added, glancing at the other nobles around them. He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "Why don't we find a place where just the two of us can have our match? Besides, isn't it harder to focus on the game with so many people around?"

"Oh my, I think he's hitting on you!" the blonde, Oz, said, raising a hand to her mouth.

"It's nothing of the sort," Lelouch replied, shaking his head.

"We'll see about that," the emerald-masked woman replied. "So where do you propose that we have our private match?"

"There should be some empty offices in the back where we won't be disturbed. It's common for deals to be made behind closed doors, so there must be a comfortable room or two for negotiations requiring a certain level privacy that will suit our purposes just fine." He neglected to say exactly whose office they would be breaking into.

"How will we get in?" she asked.

"Leave that to me," he replied, grinning under his mask.

"You sound so confident in yourself," the emerald-masked woman said. "Almost as if this is second nature to you."

"You might say that."

"Just don't try anything funny around Mar-," Oz started. She paused, and quickly corrected herself. "I mean, My Lady. I'll be keeping an eye on you."

The three of them took their leave of the chess tables and began to make their way further back, to a passage on the side that would lead around to the Consul-General's offices. At one point, Lelouch noticed that Suzaku starting to wander in their direction with Euphemia, but then Kaguya made a timely appearance, overwhelming her cousin with a show of exuberant delight at being able to see him again. Knowing Kaguya, Lelouch doubted that it was entirely an act, but from a slight glance that she made over her shoulder, he was sure that she knew exactly what she was doing.

On Lelouch's part, he used the Third Eye, one of his few gifts to work both in the real world and the Metaverse, narrowing his perception to focus only on pertinent aspects of his surroundings so that he would not be distracted by the constant swirls of colors and the sounds of the party as he made his way forward. Those who might take undue notice of his group stood out to him with the preternatural awareness of a thief, and he moved to avoid them without seeming that he was doing so.

Lelouch sensed that someone was rapidly approaching him from behind, their footsteps standing out to him over the noise of the dance floor. After a moment, he recognized the gait as one familiar to him. At the same time he felt hostile intent radiating from the approaching person, but it was not directed at him.

"Don't tell me that this is your 'Plan B'," he heard Kallen's voice hiss into his ear as she came up to his side, quietly enough so that the other two women wouldn't be able to hear her clearly. He could tell that she was glaring at the emerald-masked woman and Oz.

"It's not," he hissed back, keeping his voice low as well.

"Well don't think that you're going off on your own again. Haven't we talked about this before?"

"Did you forget your date while you were trying to have a fling with My Lady?" Oz asked innocently, though there was a slight smirk on her face as if to say, "Serves you right."

But at the same time, Oz's eyes were busy, moving to assess Kallen and if she posed a threat to her lady. While that would be a standard procedure for any bodyguard when faced with an unknown person in proximity to their principal, Lelouch sensed that something about Kallen had put Oz on guard. If Lelouch had to guess, it must have been subtle cues in the way that Kallen carried herself, which would appear innocuous to a casual observer but would signal to someone of a similar martial background that the redhead was not the harmless socialite that she was currently pretending to be.

"I already said, it's not like that at all," Lelouch replied. He was vaguely irritated that Oz was casting aspersions on his character, and she was more perceptive than he liked, but she wasn't wrong about his relationship with Kallen, the fact that he had technically come as Mrs. Stadtfeld's date notwithstanding. On the other hand, the misconception was an advantageous one, if it would keep Oz and the emerald-masked woman from suspecting his true motives.

The emerald-masked woman looked amused, and let out a light laugh. "You can relax, Oz. He's not going to be putting any moves on me... especially not with his girlfriend around." She turned back to Lelouch. "Is our chess match still on? I'll understand if you have to go, though I must say that I was looking forward to it."

When she spoke like how she had just addressed him, the emerald-masked women seemed to have much the same gentle demeanor that Euphemia did. She would merely appear to be a lovely young noble lady to the casual onlooker, but Lelouch had already caught glimpses of the sharp and devious mind that hid beneath her mask. Still, that she continued to remind him so much of Euphy was unsettling to Lelouch, and heightened his feeling of déjà vu, but he couldn't let it get to him.

Lelouch glanced at Kallen as if to seek her approval, though he knew that she would defer to him.

Kallen nodded. "Fine. But I'm going with you."

"I trust you have no objections?" Lelouch asked the emerald-masked woman.

"None at all," she replied. A devilish smile spread on her face, and for a moment Lelouch was sure that her eyes were lingering on Kallen. "This should be fun."

The four of them continued back toward the Consul-General's chambers, leaving the party behind them. The path was long and winding, reminding Lelouch very much of the labyrinthine nature of the Palaces. Just as that was a defense mechanism for Palace rulers, he suspected that the corridors in the consulate had been deliberately constructed in that way, so as to confuse any intruders. It was a common design feature for restricted areas.

Still, thanks to Sayoko's infiltration and Nina's hacking, he had been able to obtain a complete blueprint of the consulate, which he had taken care to memorize before departing on his mission. They didn't have to worry about cameras, as Nina was in control of the consulate's security systems, which left premature discovery by guards as the main threat to their mission. There were fewer on patrol than one might expect, suggesting that his allies had continued to work behind the scenes to clear a path for them.

This wasn't to say that Sayoko was engaging in overt action. It would be problematic to say the least if someone was to discover a group of incapacitated guards tied up in a storeroom somewhere, as they would immediately raise the alert. Likewise, while Sayoko was highly skilled in silent methods of assassination for when she was behind enemy lines, she was under strict orders to only kill as a last result. There were times that killing couldn't be avoided, as in the case of Mao, Lelouch was aware that indiscriminate murder would very rapidly strain his relationships with his allies and further turn the public against the Black Knights.

No, the guards would be off investigating false, low-level alerts elsewhere in the consulate, as well as a number of inexplicable mechanical failures. It was the high-tech equivalent of tossing a stone to divert the guards' attention as one slipped by them.

None of that was to say that path was completely unguarded, but the patrols that remained could easily be avoided through judicious use of the Third Eye. With any luck, Sayoko would have succeeded unlocking Gao Hai's chambers for them as well.

"You seem to know where you're going," the emerald-masked woman remarked softly. "Have you been here before?"

"No," he replied smoothly. "I just have good intuition."

They didn't have much further to go before they reached Gao Hai's chambers, marked by a pair of large, ornate wooden doors, more richly decorated than the rest.

"I think this one will do," Lelouch said. "If its decoration is any indication, its amenities will be up to a higher standard than those of the other rooms."

He approached the doors. Just as he had planned, they had been unlocked. It would have been awkward, to say the least, if he was forced to pick the lock in front of the emerald-masked woman and her bodyguard. He did have a small, easily concealed lock pick on his person, plastic so that it could beat the metal detectors, but that came of the cost of being less durable and flexible, and really had been intended only as a last resort. But as always, Sayoko had done her job well.

With a grin, Lelouch pushed the doors open.

"I trust this will be a sufficiently secluded spot for our match?" he asked the emerald-masked woman.

"Yes, I believe it will," she replied.

The room was indeed lavishly furnished, decorated with artifacts from across the Chinese Federation, much like those that the Black Knights had seen in Gao Hai's Palace, though they didn't seem to be as haphazardly thrown about. That being said, the effect was still garish. Gao Hai was far more concerned with showcasing his wealth and power than the aesthetics or cultural value of the items he had displayed, as was to be expected of the ruler of greed. Gao Hai had obviously spared no expense in ensuring his own comfort. While that came at the expense of the Chinese people, Lelouch wasn't going to feel particularly guilty if he availed himself of the accommodations that Gao Hai had so generously, if unwittingly, provided.

Gao Hai conveniently had a chess table and set of his own, doubtlessly for entertaining Britannian officials, as Lelouch had suspected would be the case. Sayoko had been prepared to plant a chess set in Gao Hai's office for them, but clearly that hadn't been necessary. Gao Hai's chess table seemed especially well-crafted, and Lelouch had a sneaking suspicion that the High Eunuch may have had it commissioned specifically in a vain attempt to impress Prince Schneizel. In any case, it would do for his purposes as he sat down for a rematch with the emerald-masked woman.

The game was more intense than the last. His opponent had gotten a taste of his tactics, so he purposefully switched them and held nothing back this time. The emerald-masked woman wasn't as talkative as before, focused intently on the game. Meanwhile, Kallen stood behind him, keeping close watch on Oz, who did the same on the opposite side of the table, her eyes seeming to dare Kallen to make any sudden moves.

Still, everything was progressing well. Though his opponent was formidable, Lelouch was sure that he would be able to attain victory. He might even be able to conclude the game before anyone could find them. He supposed that any evidence of someone trespassing in the restricted area might change Gao Hai's cognition, but if Gao Hai could convince himself that the area was completely secure again, the path would close as quickly as it had opened. They needed a strong and lasting change to the High Eunuch's cognition.

At that moment, the door was thrown open as the High Eunuch and his guards barged into the room. It was a larger reception than Lelouch had expected. Something must have happened to put Gao Hai and his men on high alert.

Lelouch saw that Li Xingke was among the guards, standing just behind Gao Hai. Xingke's hand rested on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. Outwardly, the bodyguard was stone-faced, but Lelouch nonetheless had the impression that Xingke would have liked nothing better than to find an excuse to cut down Gao Hai where he stood. On the other hand, Xingke would likely do the same to them just as quickly if he became convinced that they were acting against the interests of the Chinese Federation.

"My, what is this?" Gao Hai asked, sounding scandalized as he raised a hand to his mouth. But as before, everything about the High Eunuch's manner was affected. Unsaid was the demand that they explain themselves quickly.

To Lelouch's surprise, the emerald-masked woman managed to speak up before him. "Is there something wrong with us playing chess?" she asked innocently.

"This is a restricted area!" Gao Hai huffed, though his high-pitched voice made him seem petulant. "My office in fact."

"Our apologies for the intrusion," Lelouch replied with all of the fake politeness that he could muster. "But the way here wasn't closed off in any way. How were we supposed to know that this was an off-limits area when not a single sign marked it as such? Even the door was unlocked when we got here." Inducing a little paranoia that he or his staff were carelessly leaving his office unlocked would prevent Gao Hai from too quickly convincing himself that he had secured his chambers once again. "We just wanted some privacy for our match, but we'll return to the party at once if your men would be kind enough to escort us back there."

There was no possibility that Xingke would recognize his voice, as he hadn't spoken back in their earlier encounter in the alleyway outside of the consulate. Xingke might recognize Kallen, but so far the Chinese bodyguard had remained silent.

"We received an anonymous tip that someone would be trying to break into my office," Gao Hai said, crossing his arms. "Are you thieves? Spies? Perhaps both? How unfortunate to have such an incident mar the occasion." Gao Hai made a restrained laugh, though it sounded more like he was giggling. "Of course, by treaty, this consulate is considered part of the sovereign territory of the Chinese Federation, so everyone here is subject to our - to the Empress's laws." Gao Hai giggled again. "Which means that you are all under arrest until we can figure out what you may or may not have been up to."

Damn! Lelouch had known that being arrested was a risk, but he had originally counted on Leila's rank and status helping him avoid such entanglements. It would only take him a moment to use the MetNav to escape into the Palace, where he and Kallen would have the advantage as Persona-users, but doing so in such a confined space would mean sucking everyone else in the room into the Metaverse with them. They'd have to kill Gao Hai and his guards to prevent them from spilling their identities. While Gao Hai definitely deserved to die for his crimes, that would also mean the failure of their mission, since they wouldn't be able to get close enough to change the heart another High Eunuch.

"Don't forget the emerald-masked woman and her bodyguard," Arsene's voice growled within him. "Though I cannot say I approve of murdering women in cold blood if it can be avoided... especially if they have done nothing wrong."

"Don't tell me that you're my conscience now, Arsene," Lelouch thought back. But he couldn't really argue with his other self. Deep down, he didn't really want to harm either of them. Come to think of it, the literary Arsene Lupin had made a point never to kill anyone. But his own Arsene was normally unrepentantly bloodthirsty. Had his desire for revenge twisted Arsene into the demon that he was now?

Lelouch dismissed that thought. It was no time for self-reflection. He could see that Kallen had reached the same conclusion as him, but from how she had adjusted her stance, she was still ready to fight. Oz was also ready, and had taken a step forward to place herself between the guards and her lady.

"That won't be necessary, Consul-General," the emerald-masked woman said, suddenly rising to everyone's surprise.

"Why would that be?" Gao Hai asked, sounding faintly amused, but he raised his hand, and his guards halted for a moment.

The emerald-masked woman glanced down at the chess board. "While I would like it if we could continue playing, I know when I've lost," she murmured. "The result is inevitable." With a graceful flick of her fingers, she deliberately tipped her king over, signaling her resignation from the game. "And so..."

The woman then raised her hands, first undoing her bun and letting her rosy hair fall, before removing her mask.

Lelouch felt himself go rigid. Once again, he was glad that no one could see his face beneath his mask.

"I am Princess Marrybell mel Britannia," the woman said firmly, "88th in line to the throne of the Holy Britannian Empire."

It had been years, but how had he not recognized her? Marrybell had grown of course, but so had Euphy, and he had immediately recognized his favorite half-sister. Euphy and Marrybell had been close to each other back in Pendragon, and even though they had different mothers, they almost could have passed as twins at a glance. It was only upon a closer look that the differences between them became obvious. Euphy's hair was a more vivid pink than Marrybell's, and Marrybell had a somewhat more rounded face and was slightly taller than Euphemia. He couldn't reasonably be expected to recognize all of his legions of half-siblings after so long, but besides Euphy and Cornelia, Marrybell had been one of the few to give a damn when he and Nunnally were exiled to Japan. He had more than enough reason to remember her, but it hadn't been enough.

Something else stood out to Lelouch in what his half-sister had just said, that she was 88th in line to the throne. Marrybell had once been of a much higher rank in the royal family, one near his own former rank as 17th in line to the throne. Now, she was just behind Nunnally's old position as the 87th in line. Such a large demotion in the standing of a member of the royal family only occurred as a punishment for a severe transgression, and the Emperor was the only person who could exact such a penalty upon them.

What exactly had Marrybell done to incur their father's displeasure?

Marrybell's voice returned him to their present situation.

"This is my knight, Oldrin Zevon," she said, gesturing to the blonde Knight whom she had previously called 'Oz'. She then turned to Lelouch and Kallen. "These two are under my protection as well. I invited them to join me for a match, so I'll see them out as well." She smiled sweetly. "If you still want to arrest them, I can't stop you, but please make sure that you arrest me as well. It wouldn't be fair if I was set free solely because of my position, when I'm the one responsible for them being here."

Marrybell was lying to protect them, despite not knowing who they really were. Lelouch was glad to see that she still seemed to be a good person at heart. And the way she had just put Gao Hai in a bind was not only brilliant, but a far surer guarantee that they would not be arrested after all than if Leila had been the one to accompany him. Disgraced as Marrybell may have been, she was still a Britannian princess. Arresting her would immediately create an international incident.

That would inevitably involve Schneizel, who was just rooms away, in his capacity as Britannia's Prime Minister, which would in turn lead to their discovery. But Gao Hai, who must have gone to great lengths to curry Schniezel's favor, would not risk jeopardizing that relationship by arresting the Second Prince's half-sister. If word of the incident got out, it would also incense the Britannian population, who, fed a regular media diet of racist propaganda as they were, would react violently to reports that a Chinese man had dared to lay hands on a royal princess. Even if Gao Hai were to let Marrybell and Oldrin go and arrest them anyway, there had to be doubt in the High Eunuch's mind. What if Princess Marrybell were to speak unfavorably about him to Prince Schneizel? It wouldn't be enough to stop the union of the Chinese Federation and Britannia, but it might just be enough to compromise Gao Hai's own position in the new order. Lelouch doubted it was a risk that Gao Hai would be willing to take.

"You..." Gao Hai said, his voice trembling with poorly concealed anger. The High Eunuch knew that he had been outmaneuvered.

"Is there a problem, Consul-General?" Marrybell asked, outwardly sweet as ever.

Gao Hai let out a giggle, plastering over his anger with an obsequious expression. "You should have said that you were coming to Area 11, Princess! We would have been all too happy to put you on the guest list! And if you want a private room, it would be my pleasure to set one aside for you. But we should talk first. I'm eager to know what brings you to Area 11, and if there is anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable. I may be a mere emissary of the Empress, but there are plenty of favors that I can call in across the Tokyo Settlement." He turned, and gave a nod to his guards. "Li Xingke will take care of your friends and see to it that they find their way back to where they belong. Do I make myself clear?" He asked, now speaking directly to Xingke.

Xingke nodded. "As you wish." Gao Hai's intent was all too clear, but his words were vague enough that Xingke could deliberately misinterpret them if he so wished, just as Gao Hai would be able to claim plausible deniability if something unfortunate were to happen to them in Xingke's care. Everything Lelouch had seen so far had told him that the bodyguard held no real loyalty to Gao Hai. How Xingke would choose to interpret his orders wasn't something that he could predict with absolute certainly, but already a new gambit began to take shape in his mind.

"We thank you for your hospitality and understanding, Consul-General," Marrybell replied. But Lelouch also saw her give him a glance which seemed to say, "Good luck."

Just what was she playing at?

Lelouch let Xingke escort himself out of Gao Hai's office. Kallen hesitated, and Lelouch could tell that she too had grasped Gao Hai's intent. But she trusted him, and so after a moment, she followed his lead.

"Return to your posts," Xingke told the other guards soon after they had left Gao Hai's office. "I can deal with these two on my own."

"But sir-!," one of them protested.

"Do it," Xingke said. "I will take full responsibility for this."

Nodding quietly, the other guards dispersed.

"I thought I warned you and your friends earlier," Xingke said quietly to Kallen when the other guards were out of sight, still leading them through the consulate. He looked down at Lelouch. "And under that mask, you're the young man who was with her in that alley, aren't you? What are you trying to do?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kallen said brusquely.

"Don't lie to me," Xingke replied, unamused. "You have a very distinctive look, young lady. But to compromise our security, send my men chasing after ghosts, and have not one but two imperial princesses in league with you... It appears that your influence knows no bounds... I underestimated it, honestly." His eyes narrowed. "But who exactly are you, and what are you trying to do?" Xingke's grip on his sword tightened. "I will have answers from you." He turned, looking directly into Lelouch's colored contacts. "But I should be asking you, shouldn't I? I can see from how she defers to you. You're their real leader, are you not?"

Under his mask, Lelouch smirked. "Ask and you shall receive."

He activated the Metaverse Navigator, pulling Kallen and Xingke into the Palace with him. They appeared in an unfamiliar part of the Palace, but judging from the fact that it was more richly decorated than anything they had seen so far, Lelouch was certain that they had made it behind the Cognitive barrier.

At once, Kallen and himself were garbed in their thief attire instead of party wear. Xingke was of course startled by their transformation and that of the scenery around them, but he recovered quickly, recognizing that they had tricked him, and swiftly drew his blade.

Kallen may have been surprised by his decision to bring Xingke into the Metaverse with them, and he was sure that she would give him an earful about it later, but her reflexes were just as fast as Xingke's. "Persona!" she shouted, grasping her mask. Guren Jigoku appeared and intercepted Xingke's blade in its golden claws.

"Demon!" Xingke gasped. He freed his blade from Guren Jigoku's grip and leapt back, putting space between him and Kallen's Persona.

"Zero!" Lelouch heard Nunnally's voice call out. Turning, he saw the Irregulars and Arthur running over to help.

"Zero?" Xingke asked. "You mean that you're the Black Knights?!"

"And the Irregulars!" Dalque cheerfully piped up. "Go ahead and smash him, Queen!"

"Hmm hmm hmm!" a giggling, high-pitched voice suddenly echoed around them, one that Lelouch had already heard too many times for his liking. "It seems we have quite a party in here!"

Shadow Gao Hai appeared. He was wearing yellow robes, as before, but now they seemed to be shimmering gold. His headdress had been replaced with that of a Han emperor, resembling a mortarboard cap with twelve strands dangling from it, but instead of the traditional jade beads, there were golden coins. Like all Shadow selves, his eyes were a malevolent, glowing supernatural gold.

Following him was Cognitive Xingke, still a terracotta solider, and between them there was what appeared to be an animate porcelain doll. It was the size of a child, not even five feet tall, and wore an elaborate dress, painted mostly purple but with a light green blouse, with red trim and yellow straps. Its white hair was gathered into four strands that framed its face, two shorter ones in front and two longer ones in the back. The face was doll-like as well, with large, red eyes that made it look endearing, but also gave it the appearance of an albino.

"You!" Xingke snarled, seeing Shadow Gao Hai. "What is this place? And why are you wearing that? You dare mock her Highness by styling yourself as an Emperor?!" Xingke then noticed his Cognitive double. "Who-"

Shadow Gao Hai laughed again. "That's rude, Xingke! And what are you doing, waving a sword around like that in the presence of our guests. Or perhaps you're going to take care of them for me? Then by all means, please proceed."

Lelouch spoke up. "You're not in the 'real' world anymore, Xingke. We call this world the Metaverse. It's a place where the content of the human heart takes material form, allowing distorted desires to be stolen. That's why no one on the outside has been able to come up with a satisfactory explanation of how the Black Knights steal the hearts of their targets - the method has been supernatural from the start and almost completely untraceable." He pointed at Shadow Gao Hai. "That's not the real Gao Hai either, but it is his Shadow, the living embodiment of all of his distorted desires, the ugly truth that he tries to hide from others. He sees himself as an Emperor, and the consulate as his Palace! That crumbling terracotta solider is what he thinks you are, Xingke!"

"Well of course," Shadow Gao Hai giggled. "Xingke's job is to serve me until the grave. He is quite skilled... but ultimately replaceable. It's not like he has much time left in this world anyway," Shadow Gao Hai said, frowning in mock sadness. "Such a dreadful disease," the Shadow continued, shaking its head. "I'm honestly surprised he's held on for so long."

As if to punctuate Shadow Gao Hai's remarks, Cognitive Xingke let out a loud cough, bits of terracotta violently breaking off of him.

"I serve the Empress, not you," Xingke said, glaring at Shadow Gao Hai. "That's true no matter what world I'm in!"

"But the Empress does whatever we, the High Eunuchs, tell her," Shadow Gao Hai said with a self-satisfied smile. "And so in turn, you serve us." He reached down to patronizingly pat the porcelain doll on its head. "Isn't she such a pretty, obedient little doll? She'll make for a lovely wedding photo with Crown Prince Odysseus, with all of China as a wedding present."

"Why, you traitor!" Xingke rushed at Shadow Gao Hai with his sword, but Cognitive Xingke moved just as quickly, blocking the strike.

"Oh, I'd be careful if I were you," Shadow Gao Hai said, having suddenly taken hold of the Cognitive Empress, tilting her to a side, as if threatening to drop and shatter her. "Like you, the Empress herself is expendable in the end. We can always arrange to find a new Empress if something were to happen to her, or if she isn't a good little doll for us. My Xingke here knows this. Don't you, Xingke?"

"Yes," Cognitive Xingke growled. His voice was filled with resentment, but also resignation.

"Still, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for her," Shadow Gao Hai said, affecting a pout. "To lose her parents at such a young age... the only ones there for her, protecting her from the horrors of the world outside, were her trusted advisors. Don't cry, little one. Don't worry your little head about affairs of state. It's all too much for one so young. We will take care of everything for you. Now just stay here, where it is safe, and know that the people love you."

"What a slime ball," Arthur grimaced.

"You took advantage of a young, grieving girl, manipulating her, all so you could pillage her country," Kallen seethed. "But that wasn't enough for you, was it? You just had to sell it out to Britannia too!"

"Well, we wouldn't have done away with her parents if we weren't planning to manipulate her," Shadow Gao Hai shrugged.

"What?!" Xingke asked, aghast.

"Really, Xingke, you're supposed to be quite smart, but you really come off as a bit dim sometimes," Shadow Gao Hai laughed. "Didn't it ever seem a bit too convenient that her parents died when they did? It's amazing how well the right drugs can mimic a wasting illness, or even death from a broken heart."

Xingke was trembling with fury, straining to force his way past his Cognitive double. "You swine! You murdered-"

"No Xingke, I didn't do it," Shadow Gao Hai said. "You wound me. Have you learned nothing from working under me? Do you really think I would dirty my own hands like that? It's so uncivilized. Besides, I was the most junior of the High Eunuchs, certainly not the one that our old Emperor and Empress would trust above all others. But I was rather proud of the idea." The Shadow's demeanor changed. "And what did I get for it?" the Shadow raged. "I was posted out here for my trouble! They wanted me out of the way. I was too smart for all of them. But they'll have to acknowledge me now. In just a little over two short weeks, I'll be a real Britannian nobleman, able to leave this worthless land behind!"

"You're absolutely despicable!" Nunnally shouted.

"What of the people you've been letting traffickers smuggle into your country?" Alice demanded. "The ones that are being sold to a group in the Taklamakan Desert?"

Shadow Gao Hai gave her a quizzical look. "Why would I know that?"

"What?" Alice asked in disbelief.

"Who cares about a few people who go missing here and there?" Shadow Gao Hai replied. "People are like ants, busy, multitudinous, and utterly insignificant when you happen to step on a few and grind them into the dirt. What matters is what they can do for me, and I do get a good cut of the profits from them." He giggled maniacally. "But perhaps you could think of them like the paper you wipe your bottoms with! Something that makes you more comfortable, but nothing that you would really care about, especially when it's dirty. Then it's only good for being thrown away!"

"You..." Alice was incensed, as were the other Irregulars, even Lucretia, who was normally quiet but now looked as if she could barely contain her anger.

"In any case, what are you going to do about it?" Shadow Gao Hai asked. "I know about that little coup you've been planning behind my back, Xingke. I've let you carry on with planning it since it keeps you busy, and it will make it so much easier so round up your co-conspirators in one swoop. I really should thank you, Xingke. And even if you were to succeed in killing me, then what? The other High Eunuchs will just deny everything, and you'll be executed as the traitor that you are. So it really is pointless to oppose me."

Lelouch laughed, starting softly but quickly gaining volume.

"What's so funny?" Shadow Gao Hai asked.

"You want to be a Britannian nobleman? You'd fit right in. A parasite, who knows nothing of noblesse oblige! We've dealt with your kind before, and we'll keep dealing with it until the current world has been destroyed and created anew. We, the Black Knights, and the Irregulars, will take your heart!"

"You're only thieves. There is no way that you could destroy the world, let alone topple a nation!"

Lelouch ignored him. "But what of you, Xingke? What are you going to do? If you act alone, your efforts are doomed to failure. You need allies. You need us. Otherwise, you'll never be able to save even one little girl, let alone your nation."

"Are you asking me to throw in my lot with thieves, and throw away my honor?"

"Xingke, let me ask you a question. What do you do when faced with an evil that you cannot defeat by just means? Do you stain your hands with evil to destroy evil? Or do you remain steadfastly just and righteous even if it means surrendering to evil?"

"It's a paradox. In any case, evil will remain. Do you merely offer wordplay?"

"Not at all. We commit evil to destroy the greater evil! So make your choice! Stand with us as an ally, an equal, and lead your people to freedom! Or surrender to evil and watch as the Empress, the Chinese Federation, and everyone it in are sold to and despoiled by Britannia!"

"That's right..." Xingke murmured. "I have a promise to keep..."

Suddenly, there was a pulse in the air and a gust of wind that threw Cognitive Xingke back, while the real Xingke fell to his knees, clutching his head in pain.

"Yes, you remember that promise that you made to her," a male voice echoed around him. "For what purpose was your life spared if you fail to act now? No matter what it takes, will you see that promise through?"

"Yes..." Xingke gasped.

"Then make this promise to me: I am thou... Thou art I... Fight with strength and strategy, and carve your way through the stars themselves if that is what it takes to steal back the Child of Heaven!"

Xingke let out a cry, and ripped off the mask that had appeared on his face, spraying blood over the Palace's floor.

Blue flames wrapped themselves around Xingke, and his clothes were replaced by a black uniform, consisting of robes embroidered in gold and armor that seemed to be made of a dragon's scales around the waist, lower arms, and shoulders. Above Xingke and bound to him by phantasmal blue chains was a bearded Chinese sage, holding a fan made of crane feathers.

"Zhuge Liang!" Xingke shouted. Lightning flashed from nowhere, smiting his double and shattering it into countless terracotta fragments.

"How uncouth!" Shadow Gao Hai gasped. But then a look of recognition crossed the Shadow's face. That uniform... Jinyiwei! How fitting of the murderous lapdog you are!" The Shadow giggled. "I think you need to think hard on your sins, Xingke! And perhaps you'd like a little sneak preview of our Empress' wedding? We can accomplish both at once! Priest, come here! Grant these thieves a merciful death!"

A horrible mockery of a clergyman appeared, a book in each of too many arms. Its mouth was stitched shut, its lower half emerged from a coffin, and a chained collar was around its neck, uncomfortably reminding Lelouch of Shirley's Shadow. A number of smaller coffins surrounded the Merciful Clergyman, acting like shields.

"Time for the Empress to say her vows!" It declared, its drawling voice sounding all too joyous at the prospect. "In sickness? Splendid! In health? Maaaagnificient! But first, thieves, prepare to meet your maker, for now you shall die!"

"The only thing meeting your maker is you!" Kallen shouted back. "Guren Jigoku!" Her Persona rushed forward, blasting the Merciful Clergyman with nuclear energy.

"Little sheep who flout God! I'll make you take your vows!" The Merciful Clergyman bellowed. "Vow to me that you won't strike!"

"I will not make that vow!" Kallen retorted as Guren Jigoku followed up with a slash to swat away one of the coffins.

"I will lead you, little sheep!" the Merciful Clergyman shouted. "Your divine punishment is death!"

The coffins rose and plummeted down, driving themselves into Kallen. She withstood the attack, but seemed dazed.

"Ugh! That took a lot out of me!"

"Glorious!" the Merciful Clergyman cried as it unleashed fierce winds to buffet the Black Knights and Irregulars. Arthur and Alice darted through the winds, even as they cut into them, and unleashed their own attacks against the Merciful Clergyman.

"Master Cat!"

"Bradamante!"

The Merciful Clergyman was damaged, but it still had plenty of fight left in it.

"Now it's time for repentance!" the Merciful Clergyman shouted over the din. Once again, the coffins surrounding it rose up, dive-bombing Arthur and Alice.

"Tama and Speed are down!" Lucretia cried.

"Don't you dare hurt them!" Nunnally shouted, her eyes turning yellow. "Get him, Zero!" Nunnally blinked, and her eyes were back to normal. "Don't worry! I'll take care of Speed and Tama!"

Nunnally pulled off her mask. "Unicorn!"

A brilliant creature, pure white except for its red eyes and its golden horn appeared over his little sister.

"Samarecarm!"

Healing energy converged on Alice. Despite taking what should have been a crippling, if not fatal blow from blunt force trauma just moments ago, she opened her eyes and seemed little worse for wear, ready to jump back into the fight. Hurriedly, Nunnally summoned her Persona again to revive Arthur.

Lelouch was relieved. It had been frightening enough when they had briefly lost Milly back in the Black King's Palace, but it seemed his little sister had Euphy's healing talents as well.

"It will counterattack if you don't abide by its vow!" He called out. "Try using magic!"

Ice crystals from Sancia struck the Merciful Clergyman, followed by fire from Dalque and lightning from Xingke. The Merciful Clergyman spasmed as the electricity ran through it, and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

"Its vow no longer holds any power!" Lucretia called.

"Commence an all-out attack!" Lelouch ordered.

The Black Knights and Irregulars rushed forward, pummeling the Merciful Clergyman.

Eventually rising above the fray, the Merciful Clergyman shouted, "Men! Women! Amen! You do not believe in the word of God? That is a SIN! Lost sheep, I tie you up! More vows! More penance!"

Unfortunately for the Merciful Clergyman, if it thought that the assembled thieves were going to stand there dumbly while it finished its speech and bound them against their will with more vows, it was dead wrong.

"Take-Minakata!" Lelouch called.

"Ame-no-Uzume!" Nunnally cried.

"Zhuge Liang!" Xingke shouted.

Three lightning bolts struck the Merciful Clergyman simultaneously, hobbling it once more.

"Did you hear the voice of God!?" The Merciful Clergyman begged. "Believe and you will be saved! If not, the sin is thine! It's too early to go to His side! Mercy is a virtue! Welcome the salvation of-"

The Merciful Clergyman was cut off as Xingke slashed through him, and vanished into dark wisps.

"Impossible..." Shadow Gao Hai gasped.

Xingke advanced, his blade still drawn. Now that his Persona was no longer active, Lelouch could see that Xingke's mask took on the visage of a black dragon.

"Xingke, there's no need to be so unfriendly," Shadow Gao Hai said, while backing up. "We can talk this through..."

"You can talk all you want in hell!" Xingke snarled, raising his blade.

"Wait! Stop!" Lelouch shouted in alarm. If Xingke killed Gao Hai's Shadow now...

Xingke hesitated for a fraction of a second, and that was all that Shadow Gao Hai needed, instantly teleporting elsewhere in his Palace.

"I've had enough of you crashing my party," Shadow Gao Hai's voice whined. "Guards, seize them!" At once, a flashing red ambience filled the Palace, signaling that it was on high alert.

"Why did you stop me?" Xingke asked.

"I don't have time to explain the details," Lelouch replied, "but suffice to say that killing the Shadow kills the real person. Changing Gao Hai's heart is pointless if he's dead, and simply killing him won't solve anything. Now we have to get out of here! Any minute now, this whole place will be swarming with more Shadows."

"So you know when to issue a tactical retreat," Xingke murmured. "You're an interesting one... Zero." He shook his head. "This could all well be some sort of psychotic break on my part. Another world... Shadows... magic... Personas... It's almost too incredible to believe." He reached up and felt his mask. "But it feels real enough." He gave Lelouch a piercing look. "You still owe me answers."

"You'll get them."

"Where shall I find you then?"

"Same place as last time."

"Very well." Xingke coughed several times, small flecks of blood staining the sides of his mouth. The fight had clearly taken its toll on him. "I will hold you to that, Zero, and to your promise of assistance. For as long as you continue to oppose Gao Hai, we shall have an alliance."

xXx

When Lelouch returned to the consulate in the real world, pandemonium was not what he expected to find. Had Nina been forced to set off false alarms to cover his friends as they made their escape?

"Go!" Xingke told him. "I'll deal with this! And don't forget what you promised, Zero!"

Lelouch didn't need Xingke to tell him twice.

Pressing through the panicking crowd in the main hall, Lelouch heard fragments of fearful whispers from the other party-goers.

"Prince Schneizel was right!"

"A Black Knight here..."

"...Princess Euphemia..."

"What are they..."

"...Rounds are..."

"I hope she's..."

Lelouch felt a sudden dread grip him. Something had happened her, and it wasn't good. If anyone had harmed Euphy...!

"Everyone, calm down, and hear my words!" Schneizel's voice suddenly cut through the chaos, and the crowd fell silent.

"Thank you," the Second Prince said. "A few minutes ago, the unthinkable almost happened. Having scorned my offer to work together for a brighter future, a terrorist, believed to be a member of the Black Knights appeared and abducted my dear sister, Princess Euphemia. I, like many of you, feared the worst. However, I can now confirm that through the quick thinking and bravery of Sir Suzaku Kururugi, Princess Euphemia has been safely returned to us."

The crowd released a collective sigh of relief around them.

"Unfortunately, the cowardly thief who took her has escaped," Schneizel continued. "I scarcely have the words for this contemptible crime." Indeed, Schneizel, who rarely displayed emotional extremes, seemed to radiate cold, quiet fury. Whether it was real or affected for the benefit of the crowd, it seemed to have the desired effect, drawing them further into his spell. "My sister, Princess Euphemia, is one of the most kindest and most generous souls that you will ever meet, tirelessly working for all of the people of Area 11 in her capacities as the Sub-Viceroy. In targeting her, the Black Knights have put the lie once and for all to any claim that they are knights for justice. They are simply terrorists, and must be dealt with as such."

The crowd of nobles was now little more than a mob, roused and eager for blood, held in place only by Schneizel's silver tongue.

"But if we give into the base passions of mankind, that will only lead us to ruin," Schneizel said. "That is exactly what the Black Knights want. So while I hate to cut the festivities short, I'm sure that the Consul-General will agree that safety and security must take precedence. If you would please leave in an orderly manner, it will help us get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. And know that no matter what they may try, nothing will stop us from realizing our destiny of a new and better world."

xXx

"You certainly took your time getting out of there," Mrs. Stadtfeld said, back at her manor. Shortly after Schneizel's announcement, she had seen him among the crowd, grabbed him by the arm, and dragged him away from the party with her. From how Kallen had reacted to her stepmother before and during the party, he knew that she wouldn't be happy with it, but the priority at the time had been getting out of the consulate. Besides, he had been so busy trying to work out the ramifications of what had just happened that he hadn't been able to mount any sort of effective resistance.

Mrs. Stadtfeld gave him a strange look. "That was a way to end the evening. I didn't expect that you would be trying to-"

"We weren't," Lelouch sighed. He likely wouldn't know the fully story until he had a chance to talk to his teammates, but none of it could mean anything good. "Whether it was Schneizel or another party, someone wanted to frame the Black Knights... and they succeeded."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 24.3%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 15**

 **A/N:**

 **Zhuge Liang, the famed military strategist and scholar of the Three Kingdoms period (which the depiction of the Chinese Federation in Code Geass is largely based on), reflecting Xingke's mix of strong martial abilities with great intelligence. Also known as the "Sleeping Dragon", which is reflected in Xingke's Thief suit. While anachronistic to the Three Kingdoms period, Jinyiwei** **were members of the Ming Dynasty's secret police, also known as the embroidered uniform guard. I think someone else used Zhuge Liang in another Code Geass x Persona 5 fan fiction, but for a different character, and I had already been planning to use Zhuge Liang for Xingke long before I ever came across that story.**

 **Xingke's rebellion is somewhat different from the others in that he seeks to restore the rightful authority of his country, rather than trying to tear it down, as Lelouch wishes to do to Britannia. However, he nonetheless rebels against the High Eunuch's corruption.**

 **Xingke is of the Emperor Arcana, as he is a male authority figure, who Lelouch canonically thought had the potential to become a leader for his country, and has a quite stern personality as well. His element defaulted to lightning, as Kallen was already the team's nuke user, but I felt that it can still work, as lightning often is associated with the divine, which connects in turn to Xingke's loyalty to the "Child of Heaven". As has been the pattern for other Persona users, Zhuge Liang resists its own element. As for it's weakness, Nuclear. Let's just say that the radiation isn't good for Xingke's already fragile health and leave it at that.**

 **As several readers correctly predicted in the last chapter, the emerald-masked woman was none other than Princess Marrybell mel Britannia, accompanied by her Knight, Oldrin Zevon. Fans of Code Geass's spinoffs will remember which organization they both belonged to... But why is she in Area 11?**

 **As a final note about the chapter, the Merciful Clergyman is originally a boss from Persona Q. While the context of its appearance is quite different here, I figured it was a good way for Shadow Gao Hai to twist the knife while taunting Xingke, and it coincidentally happened to be weak to electricity, which was a bonus.**

 **Looking forward, the innermost Cognitive barrier has been breached. The Black Knights simply need to confirm the location of Gao Hai's Treasure within the Palace and then send a calling card at this point, but I do have a certain Confidant scene in mind before that happens. That said, I have been looking forward to writing the battle against Gao Hai's Shadow for quite some time... But of course, the Black Knights have plenty to deal with, especially as their enemies start to close in around them...**


	58. For Those I Love

Lelouch didn't have a chance to hear from his teammates until late at night, when they had safely made their way back to their homes or dormitories. Their reports of what had happened were every bit as disturbing as he had feared. Someone in the crowd had activated a flash grenade without warning, momentarily stunning everyone around Princess Euphemia, and had used the opportunity to drag her off, seemingly vanishing without a trace. A few guests had caught a glimpse of the princess's assailant, a man in a black mask, and the cry that the Black Knights were attacking was taken up by the crowd.

Leila and Milly had wanted to rush to Euphemia's assistance, but had been unable to do so. Leila had still been in Schneizel's presence when the flash grenade went off, and Milly had been drawn closer to the Second Prince too, as he was her fiancé's employer. If they had moved as soon as the blinding light filled the room, then perhaps they could have slipped away from the crowd to pursue the kidnapper into the Metaverse, but they were stunned just like everyone else. By the time they had recovered, guards begun closing in, forming a protective cordon around the Second Prince and the other nobles in his vicinity, who were among the highest-ranking in attendance.

Leila told Lelouch that Schneizel had sensed her distress, and grasped her firmly by the shoulder. Schneizel had said that he knew that she was a friend of Euphy's, but that she would be putting herself into greater danger if she went after her, and that she should let the Knights of the Round and Sir Kururugi do their job. Of course, Schneizel being Schneizel, he would know that Euphemia supposedly visited her regularly, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the Second Prince knew more about their meetings than he let on. In any case, she had little chance of pulling away from the Second Prince's powerful grip, and tempted as she was, she couldn't simply use aikido to turn Schneizel's superior mass against him and throw him to the ground. That would be the fastest possible way to get herself arrested and branded as a traitor.

Shirley came to him directly, arriving at the door of the Student Council's clubhouse, badly shaken. According to Shirley's account, she had been further away from Schneizel than the others when Euphemia was abducted, outside the protective ring of guards. The princess's assailant matched Nunnally's description of the Black Mask, and since he hadn't killed Euphemia immediately, Shirley guessed that he had taken the Third Princess into the Metaverse, just as Mao had kidnapped her earlier that summer.

Practically unknown among the guests at the party, Shirley had realized that no one would notice if she slipped away during the chaos, and so she had done. She entered the Palace as soon as she was sure that she was out of sight and wouldn't be pulling in any innocents when she activated the MetNav.

"You went into the Palace by yourself?!" Lelouch asked, aghast. He was very much aware that his reaction was hypocritical, given how he had snuck into her Palace alone, which had rightfully earned him a scolding from Kallen. But going deep into a Palace without support would be practically suicide for all but the most powerful Persona-users.

A Wild Card like himself could at least adapt to the many enemies within a Palace, and with a wide enough repertoire of Personas could effectively resist or nullify most attacks that they might throw at him, while exploiting their weaknesses. Even then, going into a Palace by himself for any extended period was a bad idea, as he would have to be constantly calling upon his Personas, which would very quickly deplete his reserves, leaving him incapable of casting spells. But Shirley had only one Persona, with a weakness that she couldn't cover on her own. If she were to be ambushed by a Shadow that could cast Mudoon...

He felt as if a knife had been plunged into his heart. As far as they knew, magic like Recarm and Samarecarm only had a narrow window in which it could work. It wasn't the sort of thing that he could test without unacceptably risking his fellow Black Knights, but it would almost certainly be too late before anyone anyone could find her, especially in a Palace as large as Gao Hai's.

"I know, Lulu..." Shirley said, her head down. "I guess this means I can't get mad at you for doing the same anymore. It was stupid of me." She shook her head. "But there's more," she whispered.

"What is it, Shirley?" Lelouch asked slowly.

"It's - it's Suzaku..." she stammered. "He... he's a Persona-user! He was already there, and he was fighting the Black Mask!"

"Suzaku's a Persona-user?! Are you absolutely sure about this, Shirley?" Lelouch pressed, suddenly finding himself holding onto her arms tightly, while looking intently into her green eyes.

"Lulu, you're hurting me," Shirley managed.

He let go of her at once. "I'm sorry, Shirley," he said with sincere contrition. "I would never intentionally-"

"It's okay, Lulu," she said with a faint smile to put him at ease. "I know you weren't trying to hurt me." Her smile changed to a frown. "But it was definitely Suzaku. After spending so much time around him on the Student Council, I'd recognize his voice anywhere, and his outfit barely changed in the Metaverse from what he was wearing at the ball. The only difference was that he had a mask, like some sort of red bird. It was kind of like Nunna's mask, but his was more of the bird's face and beak, while hers looks more like the wings."

Lelouch let out a bitter laugh.

"What is it, Lulu?" Shirley asked apprehensively.

"This explains so much, Shirley. It's not a coincidence that Suzaku got made a knight and turns out to be a Persona-user as well. No, Schneizel made Suzaku a Knight _because_ he's a Persona-user. We know that Schneizel knows of Cognitive Psience, and he probably knows a lot more than he let on to Earl Asplund at Kamine Island. Schneizel's never been one to put all of his cards on the table, not when they can be held until the proper moment to be revealed as trumps. But who better to act as one's bodyguard than a Persona-user at one's beck and call, especially when there's a killer on the loose in the Metaverse?"

Lelouch shook his head. "We have to assume that Suzaku's been a Persona-user at least since he transferred into Ashford Academy. Mark my words, Schneizel was his noble benefactor back then too." He paused. "Did you see his Persona?"

"It looked like a white knight, but mechanical, almost like a Knightmare Frame. I think he called it 'Lancelot', Lulu. My Persona doesn't have analysis abilities like Bishop or Land's, but it seemed at least as powerful as Queen's Persona."

"And did he see you, Shirley?"

"I'm... not sure," Shirley admitted anxiously. "But he saw Noire in her thief suit! What are we going to do, Lulu?"

Damn! It should have been obvious, given that Schneizel had publicly credited Suzaku with saving Euphemia, but that was the last thing that Lelouch wanted to hear. Still, he needed to put on a brave face, for Shirley's sake.

"He knows that Princess Euphemia has been to the Metaverse before. That's not enough by itself for him to prove that she's a Black Knight. We all need to stay calm, and carry on like nothing's wrong. If we act out of the ordinary, our detective friend on the Student Council, or even Suzaku himself, will notice that something's amiss."

Shirley nodded, though she still seemed anxious. "You're right, Lulu." She paused. "There's something else I wanted to tell you, Lulu... But I don't think this is the right time..."

"You know you can tell me anything Shirley, don't you?"

She laughed a bit. "Oh, it's nothing like that, Lulu! It can wait, for when we're all in a better frame of mind."

He didn't sense that she was trying to hide things from him. "Very well, then. This was never going to be easy, Shirley. But I'm glad that you're safe."

He wrapped his arms comfortingly around her, with none of his earlier roughness. After several moments, their lips met, a kiss offering each other solace, but so very different from their first kiss together under the rain. That kiss had been wrong for both of them, but this one felt right, as the Lovers Arcana resonated within his soul.

xXx

While Shirley had been able to soothe his nerves for a time, his anxieties came back with a vengeance as he tried to sleep. His mind was too busy trying to make sense of everything that had happened at the ball, and it turned his fears for his teammates into nightmares.

Euphy suffered a psychotic breakdown at the hands of Britannia's agents, causing her to go on a murderous rampage, a machine gun blazing in her hands, before ultimately perishing from a mental shutdown. Shirley lay in a pool of her own blood, slowly leaking from her stomach, having been caught alone and ambushed by the Black Mask. Milly and Leila were arrested for treason. Nunnally was subjected to the same ghastly experiments that the other Irregulars had been, while the Cognitive Psience researchers expressed interest in dissecting Arthur to learn how a cat could use a Persona.

And then Kallen was laughing as she walked off with Gino, who had an arm wrapped around her, at the ball...

In spite of the horrors that he had just been treated to, it was then that Lelouch knew for sure that he was dreaming. He promptly woke up, though the absurdity of the last scenario didn't stop him from being drenched in sweat.

"Having bad dreams, Trickster?" Tsu asked, her golden eyes looking into his violet ones as she laid next to him on his bed.

"You should talk," Lelouch replied irritably.

"You're worried about them. Your teammates, I mean. I heard you saying their names in your sleep."

Lelouch grimaced at his warden seeing such a vulnerable side of himself, but after the moment he controlled his expression and replied,"Of course I am."

"They are your greatest weakness," Tsu murmured. "But at the same time, they are your greatest strength, Trickster, an intrinsic part of your power." There was a wry expression on her face. "I admit, Trickster, I was long envious of your bonds with others. For who knows how long, all I had was my sister." She shook her head. "But that was true for you once too."

Lelouch nodded, grimly recalling wandering across the war-torn Japanese countryside, carrying Nunnally on his back.

"The two of you have suffered - and grown - so much. Even now, more fates intertwine themselves with yours." She reached out to comfort him in an almost motherly manner. "Your greatest challenges still lie ahead, Trickster, but I look forward to seeing you overcome them." She smirked slightly. "I once said that you wouldn't even stand a chance against us. You're not there yet, but at the rate you're progressing, it won't be too much longer before you're able to fight my sister and I on equal terms." Tsu's smirk widened. "Both of us look forward to testing you, Trickster."

xXx

Somehow, he had been able to sleep again after that. Ominous as Tsu's interest in dueling him may have seemed, he knew that it was her way of seeing if he was strong enough to help them overthrow Igor. That she thought he would be able to do so sooner rather than later bode well for his plans.

Breakfast would have once been a highly unusual sight. Tsu joined him, and Shi came in as well, pushing Nunnally in her wheelchair as they emerged from her room. A few months ago, Lelouch would have found a pair of supernatural beings casually sitting in his dining room where his little sister or Sayoko might see them as a cause for alarm. But Nunnally was now as much a part of that world as he was, and while his maid was not a fellow phantom thief in the Metaverse, he had still introduced Sayoko to that world. She had even now worked with them on an official operation of the Black Knights.

There would of course still be misunderstandings on Sayoko's part, but it was better for Sayoko to be introduced to Tsu as "an accomplice" rather than continuing to think of the elder warden as some kind of dominatrix, and that he was her client. As for Shi, the younger warden was there as one of Nunnally's friends, which wasn't even a lie, strictly speaking. Sayoko probably assumed Shi to actually be another member of the Irregulars, like Alice, and Lelouch wasn't going to correct that misconception.

In hindsight he was thankful of the fact it was the older-looking Tsu and not Shi who decided to occasionally claim his bed as her own without asking. Sayoko might tolerate and even encourage many of his alleged kinks, but having that particular misunderstanding involve the younger sister instead, who had the appearance of a girl barely older than ten if even that, was something else entirely. At least when Shi did so with Nunnally, it was and would appear to be something more wholesome and innocent.

Sayoko was going about her usual duties, as if she hadn't been busy infiltrating the Chinese Federation Consulate just the night before, though she looked more content than usual. Was it because she had finally been able to fully put her skills as a ninja to use after so many years?

In any case, Sayoko had prepared an extra-large warm breakfast, taking their green-haired guests into account all with her usual efficiency. It turned out to be a breakfast pizza, topped with eggs, sausage, bacon, diced tomatoes, and some greens as garnishes. Had Tsu been talking to his maid behind his back?

It wasn't what he would have prepared for himself and Nunnally if given the choice, but it did taste good, and the look of pure happiness on Shi's face was enough that Lelouch couldn't possibly hold it against her. Maybe they all needed something like that to lighten the mood, because Lelouch could see that the events of the ball were weighing on his little sister's mind as well.

"Do you think... Euphy's going to be okay?" Nunnally finally asked.

"Physically, she's fine," Lelouch replied after a moment. "We know that for a fact thanks to Shirley," he said, grimacing once again at the thought of the risk that she had taken. "But Cornelia will also tighten Euphy's security after an incident like this, so it will be more difficult for her to sneak out to join us going forward."

Nunnally frowned. "And... Suzaku... he's really a Persona-user?"

Lelouch nodded. "Shirley swears that he was there in the Metaverse too, fighting the Black Mask."

Nunnally's frown grew. "You don't think... that we'll have to fight... Suzaku?" she asked.

"Neither of us wants to have to fight Suzaku," Lelouch told her. "He's our friend after all," he told her reassuringly. But in the next moment, his voice hardened. "But if it comes down to it, neither of us can afford to hesitate, not even for Suzaku's sake. I'm sure that's a reality you accepted, Nunnally, when you first became the leader of the Irregulars."

"Of course she did," Tsu interrupted. "As one of our Inmates, she knows that she is responsible for all of her own actions, and whatever consequences they might bring."

"But does Miss Nunnally really have to-" Shi started, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"It's okay, Shi," Nunnally said, gently taking the younger warden's hand in her own. She sighed. "It was a possibility that I tried my best not to think about... but all that meant was that Nemo knew all about it, and wouldn't let me forget it either."

That made sense. Any thoughts that the conscious self tried to suppress became part of one's Shadow, and his sister's Shadow was anything but quiet.

"No, not now," Nunnally said irritably, seemingly to herself, but Lelouch knew better. Her Shadow manifested itself in the real world as a sort of hallucination that only she could see or hear, but it was far more real than any mere figment of her imagination.

It was not for the first time that he wondered why the situation with Nunnally's Shadow was so different than it had been for Shirley's Shadow. Both had come face to face with their Shadows, and accepted their other selves, but Shirley had never said anything that would indicate that her Shadow had been anything but a quiet guardian ever since it had become her Persona. It wasn't the same as when he conversed with his Persona's either. While he might be able to hear his Personas speak in their own voices and even picture them in his mind's eye, he never envisioned them as actually occupying a place in the real world, as Nunnally did for her Shadow.

Lelouch shook his head. He had no good answer for that question, and it wasn't something that he could dwell on, when the situation with Suzaku and Euphemia was far more pressing. As long as Nunnally was safe, he wouldn't pursue the issue further.

"In any case, we know beyond a doubt that we have another secret Persona-user on the Student Council now," he told her. "We have to be even more cautious than ever before. That goes especially because one of them is Suzaku. Don't lower your guard for a moment, Nunnally."

Nunnally nodded gravely.

Lelouch was about to end the conversation there, when he remembered there was one more thing that had happened at the ball that he had to tell his little sister about.

"Did I mention that I ran into Marrybell at the ball? I was going to play against Leila in the Consul-General's office, but Schneizel threw a wrench into that plan, so I ended up playing against Marrybell instead. I didn't realize it was her at first though. She had come to the party incognito."

"You didn't, big brother," Nunnally replied. She gave him a curious look. "That's odd, isn't it? I mean, Euphy's snuck off on her own before, but why would Marrybell be sneaking into a party?"

"I don't know, but it felt like she knew more than she was letting on. She even lied right to Gao Hai's face to help us, and threatened a diplomatic incident if he arrested any of us."

"You don't think that-" Nunnally started.

Besides his little sister, Shi shifted uncomfortably, which both of the vi Britannia siblings immediately picked up on.

"You know something, Shi, don't you?" Lelouch asked, looking intently into her golden eyes.

"Um... I'm... really sorry, M-Mr. Trickster," Shi began to stammer. "P-please don't get mad at me."

"Have I ever hurt you, Shi?" Lelouch asked gently.

"No... but I... I can't..." Shi continued.

"Shi can't tell you," Tsu cut in suddenly. "And neither can I, so don't ask. It's confidential."

Lelouch laughed.

"What's so funny, Trickster?" Tsu demanded, her eyes narrowing.

Lelouch smirked. "You've already told me everything that I need to know."

"You don't have any proof, Trickster," Tsu replied. "That's a leap in logic, and you know it."

"Nonetheless, it's true, isn't it?" Lelouch continued to smirk. "Proof will come in time." He turned back to Nunnally. "We'll be crossing paths with Marrybell again," he said, "likely sooner rather than later."

He saw a look of understanding in Nunnally's eyes. "So she's-"

His smirk spread to a grin.

"Indeed, Nunnally. I look forward to it."

xXx

Ashford Academy was abuzz the next morning. Firstly, there was the news of the brazen attack, supposedly perpetrated by the Black Knights, at the Chinese Federation Consulate the night before, leading to the short-lived abduction of Princess Euphemia. This was largely met with shock and outrage, but to his displeasure, Lelouch knew that there were some who frequented KnightWatch who had praised them for Euphemia's kidnapping.

Such notoriety would of course advance the objectives of the Black Knights in certain ways, such as helping them access deeper levels of Mementos, which would be necessary if they were to strike at the Treasure of the Public. He didn't care if the Black Knights were seen as heroes or villains either. But those who not only thought that the Black Knights were terrorists who who preyed upon the weak but glorified such acts were little better than the criminals and corrupt nobles that the true Black Knights stood against. As such, Lelouch had seen to it that a message was posted on KnightWatch under his handle as Zero, formally denying responsibility for Princess Euphemia's kidnapping, condemning such a cowardly act, and promising to bring the true perpetrator to justice.

But the other topic, which consumed far more of the school's attention, was the official transfer of Countess Leila Bresigau to Ashford Academy on the first day of the new term.

To their credit, the Ashfords had done what they could to ensure Leila's privacy once she was on campus. Due to her celebrity status, there would always be some paparazzi, and there were some reporters who wanted to interview her about her return to the public eye and what she had seen at the masquerade ball. But far more were preoccupied with Princess Euphemia herself, keeping their numbers to a minimum.

However, holding back the attention of the student body would always have been an impossible task.

As Leila would later recount, they had given her a wide enough berth at first, allowing her to make her way to her new homeroom without interruption. Few wanted to risk making a poor first impression upon her.

She was far from the only noble attending Ashford Academy, but the others, like Kallen, lacked substantive titles of their own. Leila was a Countess in her own right, with all of the privileges thereof, and as such automatically ranked higher than any other student at Ashford in Britannia's social hierarchy, royals in exile notwithstanding. Moreover, like the rest of the Tokyo Settlement, most of the students believed that Countess Breisgau would have become Princess Leila la Britannia if not for the untimely death of Prince Clovis. A number also remembered seeing her on the same stage as the Emperor during the broadcast of Clovis' state funeral. All of this served to put her even further above them.

Of course, that wouldn't stop Leila from receiving plenty of stares, some envious, some infatuated, even a few openly lustful as she continued to make her way to homeroom. That she would receive some amount of unwanted attention whenever she was out in public was sadly a given, especially when the mystique of a new transfer student was added on top of everything else. But if all went as planned, the opportunity Leila would have to spend more time with and develop friendships with the other members of the Black Knights on the Student Council would more than outweigh such negatives.

What Lelouch did not plan for was Leila joining his own homeroom.

In retrospect, he shouldn't have been so surprised. Milly probably arranged for Leila to be assigned to his homeroom so that she would have friends around her from the start. But there Leila was, standing at the front of the classroom, already dressed in Ashford Academy's female uniform. Though modest in of itself, the uniform's cream blazer couldn't hide a bust that was rivaled only by Milly's. Leila also had the same short black skirt that the other girls in the Black Knights wore while they were at Ashford, and for a moment Lelouch found himself wondering if it was an intentional design choice on Milly's part, or if the uniform had always been like that.

The only place where Leila made a small deviation from the standard uniform was her socks. Most girls at Ashford Academy wore dark socks that cut off below the knees, but Leila's black socks reached up to her thighs. By itself, it wasn't a big deal; Kallen also routinely wore socks that were longer than regulation and lighter in color. Lelouch found it more notable in Leila's case for being a holdover from her St. Lucy's uniform. But then there was how the smooth black fabric sheathed Leila's sleek legs and left a tantalizing glimpse of exposed skin between their tops and the hem of her skirt-

"Like what you see?" a perky female voice asked inside his head.

Lilim! He should have known it was her from the moment that such impure thoughts intruded into his mind.

"You just got out of Lockdown," Lelouch thought angrily," but you still haven't learned your lesson?"

"Sure I did!" Lilim replied. "Bless magic won't bother me anymore after what those two wardens of yours put me through. And I'm not going to be giving you any dreams like that again any time soon. You couldn't let yourself appreciate it, and I'm not suicidal," Lilim pouted. "This is all real."

"Keep it up, and I'll have you executed anyway," Lelouch thought back.

"You big meanie! You just can't keep killing off your own desires and act like it's healthy! Trying to repress them for too long will only make things worse! You saw what happened to your little sister, didn't you? She repressed her anger for so long that it became too powerful for her to fully control!"

That... actually gave him pause.

"I've mastered my Shadow," Lelouch told his other self, though he spoke no words. "That's what Arsene was, before he became my Persona."

"You don't get it, silly!" Lilim replied, sounding annoyed. "I was just as much as part of your Shadow as he was, and if you kill me, that's where I'll return to, deep in the dark, forgotten parts of the sea of your soul. No matter what, I'm always a part of you, a silent voice begging you not to let life's pleasures pass you by."

"You mean carnal pleasures."

Lilim ignored his interruption.

"Even Incubus is still there, and last I saw him, he's just itching to get out." In his mind's eye, Lelouch pictured Lilim shaking her head. "Besides, we both know that you're so much smarter that that. You've mastered your Shadow? Please. You draw strength from others, but you must know how frail your heart truly is, deep down. That's why you were so afraid of intimacy for the longest time. And its weaknesses are never fully vanquished either. Given the opportunity, it can betray you and return to darkness."

"A devil like you would know all about that."

"That's right!"

Lelouch found that his urge to execute Lilim for her cheek was quickly fading. She wasn't exactly being silent right now, but she had reminded him of something Leila had once told him. "The silent voice within your heart will whisper the most profound wisdom." It probably wasn't a coincidence that Lilim had used those words either. She was a part of him, after all. His memories were also her memories.

"You've given me much to think about, Lilim. Now quiet down before I change my mind and decide to execute you after all."

The Persona complied, and fell silent.

As that conversation had been carried out entirely in his head, and he was a very quick thinker, it hadn't taken much time in reality, though he hoped Leila hadn't noticed when he, under Lilim's influence, had given her a lecherous stare. She already had far too many people who were after her just for her money and/or her looks, and Lelouch respected Leila and her intellect far too much for that. He didn't want her to think he was like all of her other suitors.

Lelouch caught himself. No, he wasn't one of Leila's suitors. He was already in a relationship with both Kallen and Shirley. He wasn't going to betray either of them to pursue Leila.

But that line of thinking was eerily familiar to Lelouch. Not even two weeks before, Shirley had been in the exact same position that Leila was in now.

And just like Shirley before her, he was in love with Leila.

It was getting too obvious for him to deny it to himself any longer. It may have started out as bonding over a shared interest in chess and tactics, and the desire to be with someone that they didn't have to wear a mask around, but it had become more before either of them could realize it. His decision to make her his de facto second-in-command of the Black Knights had been a pragmatic one, as her extrasensory abilities in the Metaverse, analytical skills, and tactical acumen had made her best suited to lead their group if anything were ever to happen to him, but it had also served to deepen the trust between them. Each meeting they had outside the Metaverse had further deepened their bond, and while Leila had fallen for him first, he hadn't been much behind her.

Had it only really been a bit over a month ago that he had had told Leila not to say that she was in love with with him too? How cruel he must have seemed at the time. He had first suggested that Leila transfer to Ashford Academy, thinking that if she had other friends, she might be able to move on past her own crush on him, or so he had consciously told himself at the time. But had part of him wanted her closer to him all along? It would still be good for her to have more friends at school, but the original reasoning had broken down completely.

Over the last month, the evidence had continued to pile up. Feelings of protectiveness toward her, and more than just simple irritation at the other suitors who hounded her... The erotic dream Lilim had given him, in which Leila had a starring role alongside Kallen and Shirley... That had practically beaten him over the head with the fact that he was physically attracted to Leila as well, but that attraction had gone back much further. From their first meeting, he had noticed her beauty, back when his heart had only begun to thaw, even as he had denied it to Milly at the time. For a long time, he had pushed those thoughts from his mind as he focused on leading the Black Knights and entered a relationship with Kallen, but now they had crept back to the fore.

"My name is Leila Breisgau," her heard her saying at the front of the class. He had been so lost in his own thoughts that he hadn't even heard their homeroom teacher ask her to introduce herself. "I've just transferred here from St. Lucy's Academy. But please, don't feel the need to use my title. I don't want to be known as 'Countess', or 'Lady Breisgau' while I'm here at Ashford Academy. Just 'Leila' is fine. I'm just an ordinary student here, like anyone else, and I look forward to getting to know you all."

There was a small round of applause at the end of her speech, but also a rush of whispering and a number of appreciative whistles. Immediately irked by the crass display, which could not have made Leila feel comfortable, Lelouch couldn't help but overhear some of his classmates' conversations.

"Are we lucky or what? And we already had all of our year's biggest hotties in our class!"

"No kidding... she's drop-dead gorgeous! Is it any wonder that she was able to charm a prince?"

"She looks even better in person than in pictures or on TV..."

"Yeah... I thought she had to be made-up, or that the pictures were edited somehow... but she really looks like that."

"She's so lucky..." a girl said dreamily.

"I'd be her prince..." a boy's voice said cheekily.

"You're already planning to make a move on her? You're disgusting!"

"Didn't she say St. Lucy's? Isn't that an all-girl's school?"

"Does she really think she's fooling anyone with the modesty act? She's anything but an ordinary student, and she knows it!"

Their homeroom teacher quieted their conversations with an authoritative voice, and the day's lessons began in earnest. Leila acted as if she hadn't overheard the gossip that had already started about her, and took an active part in each class, raising her hand frequently and answering several difficult questions. Even when she was called upon during History, and asked questions about Napoleon's wars, and the flaws of Europia's democratic government, she did so without missing a beat on the obviously biased questions.

Lelouch couldn't help but notice that Leila had borrowed several points from Shadow Clovis' denunciation of Europia, but while everything she said followed Britannian political orthodoxy on the surface, in between the lines she was using those same points to attack Britannia. All the while, their teacher was none the wiser, and Lelouch heard a few students whispering about how smart Leila was.

Lelouch cracked a small smile.

Soon, it was lunchtime. Rising from his seat, Lelouch began walking over to Leila. At once, he found that his path was obstructed by a handful of students, boys and girls alike, who had also gathered around her.

"Watch out, that's Lelouch Lamperogue!" A girl hissed, obviously trying to keep him from hearing her, but failing in the attempt. "He may be the Vice President of the Student Council, but don't let him fool you, Lady... um... Leila! He's a troublemaker!"

"Yeah!" a boy agreed, somewhat more loudly. His back was to Lelouch, and so he was oblivious to the approach of the very person he was badmouthing. "He must think he's some kind of Casanova! He's got so many girls wrapped around his finger it's not even funny! Especially those on the Student Council!"

"Were you speaking about me?" Lelouch asked with a smirk.

"Huh?! For how long have you been there?" the boy asked in a panic. "Listen, Leila, don't trust anything he says!"

"Actually," Leila laughed lightly, "I've already met Lelouch. Your Student Council President invited me to join them on their summer trip when I was deciding whether I wanted to transfer to Ashford or not."

"What?! No fair!"

"Yeah, that's right," Shirley said, as she came up to join them. "She was there with us. I think it's safe to say that we're all friends."

After a moment, Kallen, who was standing by Shirley's side, nodded as well.

"You too, Suzaku!" Shirley said cheerfully, without giving any hint that she had discovered his secret the night before. For one who used to be a terrible liar, Shirley had clearly become much better at acting since becoming a Black Knight out of necessity.

"Oh, right!" Suzaku said, oddly faltering for a moment, which filled Lelouch with unease.

"Wait a minute..." a student said, looking at Suzaku, their focus no longer on Leila. "You were on the news last night..." Suddenly it was Suzaku who was being bombarded with questions.

"We should go now," Lelouch told Leila, determined to take advantage of the diversion that Suzaku had unwittingly provided.

She nodded.

"Lelouch!" Suzaku called as he left the room with Shirley, Kallen, and Leila, but to no avail. Lelouch knew it was best that he not get involved in that conversation anyway. Officially, he hadn't been to the masquerade ball last night, and as such he had nothing to contribute.

"Now that you're officially a student at Ashford Academy, you know that all students need to join a club, right?" Lelouch asked Leila.

"Yes," she nodded, clearly knowing exactly where he was going.

"On the behalf of the Student Council, I'd like to invite you to join us," he replied.

"I graciously accept," Leila smiled.

"How's your first day going so far?"

"It's about what I expected," Leila said. "But I already have friends here, and Ashford is just such a vibrant place next to St. Lucy's. I was put more on a pedestal than anything else there."

"That's still going to happen here, you know," Lelouch told her. "Give it a few days and they're going to make you into a new school idol. You might even get your own fan club, though Madam President will still have plenty of loyalists in her own."

Lelia let out a small sigh and shook her head. "I'm used to it. Actually, I did have my own dedicated fan club back at St. Lucy's, but I didn't learn of its existence until I was almost ready to transfer out. They couldn't believe that I was leaving them."

"You should talk!" Kallen interrupted. "You have your own fan club on campus, Lelouch, and it has way too many members!"

"That's not an official school club, and I have nothing to do with it in any case," Lelouch replied firmly.

"Isn't there something else you're forgetting, Lulu?" Shirley chimed in.

"Oh, right. Thank you, Shirley." He turned back to Leila. "Madam President figured that you would accept our invitation, so she's actually already arranged a welcoming party for you after school. We all hope to see you there."

Leila smiled again. "I look forward to it."

xXx

The party was set up much as the party welcoming Suzaku, Kallen, and Arthur to the Student Council had been. His friends seemed to be having a good time, though Lelouch couldn't help but notice the cloud cast over it by the events of the last night's ball. He saw Nina in a corner, anxiously speaking to Suzaku and inquiring about Princess Euphemia's condition. Listening in on their conversation, he heard Suzaku tell Nina that Euphemia was fine, if a bit shaken by the incident, and that Prince Schneizel was speaking to Viceroy Cornelia to make arrangements for her ongoing protection.

Thankfully, Suzaku showed no signs of suspecting that Nina had been responsible for hacking the embassy's security that night, though Lelouch made a mental note to speak to Nina in private when she could. She might still have video of Euphemia's assailant secretly stored on her computer, which might go a long way to confirming the identity of the Black Mask.

"It's scary to think that the Black Knights can just abduct someone like that, a Princess no less, in the middle of a party," a voice said, coming up to him.

Rolo.

"You saw it on the news, didn't you?" the detective asked.

"I did," Lelouch replied, raising his guard without making it sound like he was doing so.

"And what do you think?" Rolo pressed.

"I don't think that the Black Knights are the ones responsible for it," Lelouch replied.

"Why's that?" Rolo asked.

"It doesn't fit their style at all. The Black Knights have always targeted the corrupt, but Princess Euphemia is known and beloved for her good works."

"So was Prince Clovis," Rolo replied, but he had plenty of his own secrets that he was hiding."

"Funny that you should mention Clovis," Lelouch said. "I think Euphemia was kidnapped by the same person who killed Clovis. They've already shown that they have no qualms about murdering a royal."

"You think so?" Rolo asked with interest. "They really meant to kill her? Couldn't they have simply held her hostage?"

"If their goal was to discredit the Black Knights, as I suspect it was, Princess Euphemia would be even more useful as a martyr to them."

Rolo chuckled. "I like talking to you, Lelouch. The way you're really able to put yourself in the heads of criminals... it's quite fascinating... and useful."

"Come on! You're still talking about that?" They heard Milly calling out. "You're supposed to be having fun! RELAX!"

Rolo shook his head. "You guys are really like family... on the Student Council, I mean."

Lelouch nodded. "You could say that."

"Do you... consider me to be a part of that family too?"

"I'm sure everyone on the Student Council does, Rolo," Lelouch told him.

Rolo smiled. "Thank you, Lelouch. But more than anyone else here, I think you're the one I can rely on."

Lelouch felt his bond with the detective resonate as the Moon's power waxed.

"Well, I've got a little surprise for everyone!" Milly announced. She lifted up a bottle. "Straight from the Breisgau Vineyards in Yamanashi, a bottle of one of their finest wines!"

"What? This again?" Shirley gasped. "Madam President, we can't drink that! We're underage! Where did you get that anyway?!"

"I'm guessing that it's a present from the Breisgau Corporation to the Ashfords for making Leila's transfer here as hassle-free as possible, or a 'free sample' to encourage future business with them," Lelouch offered. Of course, that was just another way of saying a 'bribe'. Milly must have gotten her hands on a bottle or two for the Student Council's use.

"Even so," Kallen called out, "there's no way we can have that."

Britannian drinking laws were more relaxed than the old Japanese ones, which had prohibited all persons under the age of 20 from drinking, but they still weren't old enough without an adult present, and even then there were restrictions. Milly was 18, and she couldn't just serve wine wherever she wanted to.

"I mean, I'm not complaining Madam President, but that wine looks way too expensive to waste if it's going to end up like last time," Rivalz said cautiously.

Rolo looked at them curiously.

"No one had any," Lelouch said.

"Yeah, most of it ended up in Kallen's clothes and hair!" Rivalz complained.

"Don't remind me!" Kallen said, suddenly blushing.

Lelouch's cheeks went red too as he remembered what had happened afterward.

"I knew something went on between you two in the shower there!" Milly smirked.

"It's okay," Rolo said. "If we're like family on the Student Council, we can keep some secrets, right?"

Suzaku looked shocked. "Rolo, Shirley and Kallen are right, we can't just-"

"Everyone, relax!" Milly said. "I've thought it all out this time! And I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it, Kallen."

"Huh?"

"You know that the nobility has certain privileges, don't you?"

"Of course," Kallen said, doing her best to conceal her disdain for the system that allowed such privileges.

"I know she won't like me bringing this up, so I hope she'll forgive me, but our latest Student Council member holds a substantive title of her own, the rank of Countess. That gives her further privileges still. For one, she counts as a legal adult in the eyes of the law, and it's considered essential for a noble to be able to entertain in style..."

"You're saying you have a loophole," Lelouch interrupted.

"I am," Milly grinned. "If, in her capacity as a Countess, Leila offers us, young people at least the age of 16, wine during a meal or gathering, and we remain under her supervision, it's all good as far as the law is concerned!"

"I guess Alice and I will have to wait then," Nunnally said, looking on. Did she sound slightly disappointed?

"Don't worry, you two will get your chance soon enough!" Milly reassured her. She then turned to Leila. "So what do you say? A toast to celebrate you joining our Student Council? And a toast for Sir Suzaku Kururugi, who apparently went and got himself knighted without telling anyone! Such coldness makes this big sis very sad!"

"I'm sorry!" Suzaku said. "Honestly, I am, but Prince Schneizel didn't want me to tell anyone before he had made the arrangements for it to be publicly announced."

That confirmed that Schneizel was Suzaku's benefactor, but Lelouch chose not to say anything. And so the party was silent for a moment, as everyone awaited Leila's decision.

"Just this once..." Leila said after a moment. "It would be a bad look if any member of the Student Council were to get drunk or have a hangover tomorrow, so I'll pour just enough for everyone to have a few sips if they want to try some. It should be fine in moderation. And I must say, I'm curious..."

She uncorked the bottle which Milly had handed to her, and began to pour the wine into crystal glasses. As she did so, she sniffed the air slightly. "Such an aroma..." A slight smile spread on her face. "It smells so good..." she said with a bit of a giggle.

"You've never had wine before?" Milly asked. "Not even when you own one of the largest winemaking companies in Area 11?"

Leila shook her head.

"Well... I guess it's okay..." Shirley said slowly. "If it's just a little, and we're not actually breaking any laws..."

Lelouch fought back a snort. Shirley was worried about breaking laws when she now broke them all the time as a Black Knight?

"That's the spirit, Shirley!" Milly beamed.

Lelouch still wasn't sure about the whole thing, but his hesitation wasn't based in any laws, but whether or not it would impair their progress in infiltrating Gao Hai's Palace and stealing the High Eunuch's heart. At the same time, the wine was very expensive, and he didn't want to be seen as rejecting such a generous gift outright.

In the end, he decided that a very small sip wouldn't hurt.

"A toast!" Milly called. "To our newest Student Council Member and a successful new term ahead of us all!"

One by one, the members of the Student Council took sips from their wine glasses. Their junior honorary members joined the toast as well, but sipped grape juice instead.

xXx

Most of them turned out to be perfectly fine with a small sip of wine. However, it quickly became apparent that, ironically, Leila had very little tolerance for alcohol. It should have been obvious when she started giggling, as if the smell alone had been enough to get her drunk. And when wine actually passed Leila's lips...

Well, at least it appeared that Leila was the good-natured kind of drunk. She seemed to be having a great time, brightly smiling and laughing heartily at the littlest things, while her whole veneer of formality, which she had to maintain as an aristocrat and a socialite, almost instantly melted away.

But they definitely weren't going to let her have another drink, much less go near the wine again.

In the end, Shirley also showed some signs of being mildly intoxicated, her cheeks flushed bright red and also giggling quite a bit more than normal, but her symptoms took far longer to manifest, and in the end, she was fine to return to her dormitory with Milly after she had some time to sit down for a while and wait for the wine's effects to wear off.

Leila however was still quite drunk, and in no condition to be going anywhere, least of all back to her home. Or rather, she was in no condition to be seen leaving by the student body or the press.

It was decided that Leila would spend the night in a spare room of the Clubhouse, where someone could keep an eye on her. After a call from Sayoko, Leila's butler arrived with a change of clothes for the young Countess, and thanked them for their discretion in the matter.

It had definitely been an eventful day, Lelouch thought, even as he knew that it was actually the calm before they made their final push into Gao Hai's Palace.

He had said good night to Nunnally and was about to drift off to sleep himself, when he heard uneven footsteps making their way toward his door.

He froze. Was that-?

His door swung open, and in stumbled none other than Leila Breisgau. Her hair was no longer done up into its usual egg-shaped buns, nor the twintails that he had sometimes seen her put on when she didn't want to be recognized. Now every shimmering inch of her blonde hair flowed freely down her back, becoming wavier as it reached the level of her waist and twisting into curls at the ends of her tresses, down by her hips. She was dressed in a sheer pink nightgown, held in place by a pair of straps slung over her shoulders. The gown stretched to the floor, where its hem spread out like that of an evening dress. Underneath, he could see white panties in the style of a string bikini bottom, and on her feet she wore pink high-heeled slippers with a marabou trim.

For a moment, Lelouch was certain that the scene before him was another erotic dream conjured up by Lilim. But then again, Lilim wasn't suicidal, and unlike that dream, there was a clear, logical chain of events leading up to this point. Except wasn't Sayoko supposed to be watching Leila? Did she-?

"Lel-ouch," Leila drunkenly slurred in her French accent, a wide, silly smile on her face. Reaching her arms out as if to hug him, she clumsily lurched forward as she suddenly lost her balance. Not wanting her to hurt herself, Lelouch quickly threw out his own arms to catch her. He succeeded, but after a moment in which his brain seemed to stop working as it tried to process what was happening, he realized that he now had his arms wrapped around Leila, and she was there, almost naked, in his bed.

Leila blinked, her amethyst eyes looking unfocused. "Oh... That was you..." she said languorously. "Thank you... Lelouch." Still smiling, she wrapped her own arms around him tightly, and let her head rest on his shoulders.

"What are you doing here, Leila?" Lelouch asked quickly, being sure to keep his voice low so that Nunnally or Sayoko wouldn't hear. The whole situation was not at all what he had expected, and felt terribly awkward.

"I'm here to be with you," Leila said, lifting her head to look into his eyes, and raising a hand to caress his chin, drawing closer as she did so. "I... I want to be honest... My reasons to fight... And what I feel... about you..."

Her lips were so close to his own right now, close enough for him to kiss her if he chose to do so. It would be easy, and the more primitive parts of his mind wanted to do so badly, sending hormones that he had once kept tightly clamped down rushing through him. He could feel Leila's breath against his face, still laced with the fruity, intoxicating scent of the wine, and her body snug against his own, warm and inviting. His pulse was racing, and there was an involuntary stiffening sensation down by his crotch as his body prepared itself to act on his desire and intimately explore Leila's mysteries.

But the more rational parts of his mind knew that if he did so, he would be taking advantage of Leila when she was most vulnerable, and he would be betraying the trust that Kallen and Shirley had in him as well.

Leila remained there, gazing into his eyes expectantly, as if she was waiting for him to kiss her. But then, without warning, she began to sob uncontrollably. "Ever since... I lost my parents... I was... so alone... But then I..."

Of course. Leila's family had been the world to her, but they had been cruelly taken from her. In that sense, she wasn't much different from himself, Kallen, and now even Shirley. All of them had lost someone precious.

Reaching up, he moved a hand up along Leila's back, her blonde hair like silk as it passed over his fingers, and paused when he reached her shoulder, while his hand remained firmly around her waist.

It was true what Lilim had said. He didn't need to kill his desires.

But he didn't need to let them control him either.

"It's okay," he told her. "You can cry, as much as you need to. I'll stay here with you."

That was what she really needed, more than anything else right now.

"Thank you... Lelouch..." she whispered.

He didn't know how long Leila spent crying, but eventually she seemed spent, and drifted off to sleep in his arms. Gently, he extricated himself and laid Leila down on his bed. She seemed peaceful now, and he spent several long moments gazing at her, before stretching out on the floor himself.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 20.1%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 14**

 **xXx**

Behind him, Lelouch heard Leila stirring.

"Oh... what a... strange dream," he heard her say groggily. Her eyes were still a bit puffy from her tears earlier, and her voice sounded slightly hoarse.

"That wasn't a dream, Leila."

Suddenly, Leila bolted upright, fully back to her regular, sober self. "Lelouch!" she said, not realizing for a moment that she was still in her nightgown.

Lelouch turned away slightly so that she wouldn't feel like he was staring at her.

"I've brought your clothes over here," he told her. "I'll leave so that you can get yourself dressed. There's a jug of water and a glass by the bedside as well. I thought you might be a bit dehydrated after last night."

"Lelouch," she said firmly, "please wait."

He turned back to face her. Leila poured herself some water and sipped it to moisten her throat, and then met his gaze without flinching.

"I want to thank you... for everything. I wasn't myself last night, but you were nothing but a gentleman about it. You had every opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Maybe a part of me was-" Leila shook her head. "What I mean to say is that I want to thank you for taking care of me, even when I was at my weakest."

"It was nothing," Lelouch said.

Leila shook her head. "It wasn't nothing Lelouch. That kindness of yours... It's why I fell in love with you, even though I knew I shouldn't." She sighed. "There was so much that I wanted to tell you... but I just made a fool of myself last night."

"Trust me, I don't think any less of you, Leila."

She smiled slightly. "Do you remember me telling you about the silent voice within one's heart?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"For a while now, I've been searching for my own answers. I was raised to believe in Europia's democratic ideals, and to follow the same path that they did. When they died, I was as much trying to carry on their work as I was trying to bring their killer to justice. But Clovis' Shadow wasn't lying. Everything he said about Europia is true." She sighed. "Sadly, it really isn't that different from Britannia, when you look at it. My parents were fighting for an ideal, and in doing so wanted to make the reality better, but an ideal alone wasn't going to sustain me. How could I fight on for a country I've never seen with my own eyes? I would have just been left with emptiness and grief."

She looked up. "But then I met you, Lelouch, and your friends in the Black Knights. Each and every one of them is precious to me now... but you most of all. You're what binds all of us together." She shook her head. "But listen to me go on. What I realized, when I listened carefully for that inner voice, is that I don't need to change the world to be happy."

Leila smiled. "A simple life, roaming free, and with someone I can both care and be cared for at my side... that's all I need. I think that's why my thief suit took the form of Gypsy dancer in the first place..." She chuckled lightly. "It's a romanticized notion, I know, but I've always been a romantic deep down." Determination swelled in her voice. "But even more important to me... is protecting those I love. And that's why... I'll continue to fight!"

I am thou… thou art I

Thou hast turned a vow into a blood oath

Thy bond shall become the wings of rebellion

And break the yoke of thy heart.

Thou hast awakened to the ultimate secret

of the Priestess, granting thee infinite power…

Through his bond with Leila, a new possibility opened up deep within his soul: Anat, the Avenger, a goddess who descended to the underworld and even fought Mot, the god of death, to bring back her brother.

But the power of his bond was feeding back into Leila, causing something to change with her as well. Her eyes widened, and through their bond, a vision from her mind's eye was shared between them. Leila's Persona, Jeanne d'Arc, was engulfed in light, and when it emerged, it had been transformed, becoming a valkyrie, no, a goddess, carrying a shield, adorned with a brilliant necklace and a cloak of falcon feathers, and riding a chariot drawn by a pair of cats.

"Freyja," Leila whispered. "Goddess of Love, War, and Seiðr. My power... it's been born anew!"

"It suits you," Lelouch told her.

Leila's smile grew. "She does indeed." She paused. "Did you ever learn to listen for your own inner voice, Lelouch, silent as it may be? I think that's what's closest to each of our hearts."

He nodded. "I believe that I have. You're... also... precious to me, Leila," he said, the words eventually tumbling out. "We'd never have made it this far without you to guide us without fail through the Palaces and Mementos. You've always been someone I could match wits with, and more than once, you've seen through me, and made me realize something important that I was missing. And... I.. I..." He faltered, unsure of what to say.

"Don't worry, Lelouch," Leila said gently. "You've told me enough. I know." A mischievous look twinkled in her amethyst eyes. "For the record, Shirley is open to me joining the arrangement that you have with her and Kallen."

"What?!" Lelouch spluttered. "Did Milly tell you?" he demanded.

"It was rather obvious," Leila replied. "So no. I spoke with Shirley about it while we were on the way to the masquerade ball together. And even if I hadn't, you just did."

"Well played," Lelouch conceded. "But why didn't Shirley mention this to me herself when she spoke to me after the ball?"

"We were all shaken by what had just happened there. I'm sure it was the last thing on her mind at the moment, and it wouldn't have been the proper time or place."

Wouldn't have been the proper time or place... Wait! Was that what Shirley had wanted to tell him earlier?!

"You can ask her yourself later. But once Shirley and I had the chance to talk with just the two of us, we felt that we really were kindred spirits to each other, so why fight between ourselves?"

"Leila, you need to think something like that through! Leaving aside the question of whether Kallen would even agree to it, you're a public figure in a way that neither Shirley nor Kallen are! You wouldn't be able to do anything in public with me, unless it's part of a school activity now that you're at Ashford and a member of the Student Council. It would draw far too much attention to both of us!"

"I can accept that," Leila said without wavering.

"This isn't just a risk to your reputation, either! This isn't like joining... a... royal harem," Lelouch said, practically spitting out the words, disliking their very sound, "like the one my father has. He has 108 consorts, but that's all power and politics. They aren't actual relationships. They'd all happily backstab and murder each other if they thought they could get away with it, or if it would improve their own standing. In many cases, they _have,_ while he just sits back to watch!"

"I know," Leila said softly.

"You're talking about entering a complex relationship with the closest friends that you have, one that I'm still not even sure will work in the long run, and each person in such a relationship makes the whole thing exponentially more unstable. I accepted the risks when I agreed to Shirley and Kallen's proposal, but if anything were to go wrong with this, I could lose all of you, and you could lose all of us."

"You're a gambler, Lelouch, aren't you?" Leila asked.

Lelouch was bewildered by the sudden change in subject.

"I am," he replied, wondering where she was going with this.

"What is the term in gambling jargon for a gambler making a lot of money in a single play, winning the big prize?"

"Hitting the jackpot."

Leila frowned. "That's close, but not quite what I was thinking of. What about when the player wins so much that they'd be able to retire from gambling right there and then?"

"Ah. I think you mean 'breaking the bank'. It's every gambler's dream. To bet it all and beat the house one for all."

"Imagine yourself in that situation, just about to wager it all, certain that if you win now, you'll be set for life. With that chance right in front of you, and knowing the risks involved, would you simply walk away from it?"

"Of course not. If the opportunity is really there, how can I not make the attempt? Why would I even try my hand at gambling in the first place if I don't have the determination to see it through? Isn't that what I've been trying to do with the Black Knights, to find the right hearts to steal so that I can 'break bank' and bring down the Empire with it?" He raised an eyebrow. "Still, I didn't take you as being so reckless, Leila," he said with a bit of a smirk.

"Love does that to people." She looked him straight in the eye. "Well, there you have it. That's my reason. How can I see the chance to 'break the bank', and get what most people spend their entire lives looking for, and _not_ place my bet? Is there anything else in this world so worth the risk of having your heart broken?"

Lelouch gulped. There was only the utmost sincerity and conviction in her eyes.

"I love you, Lelouch. If this is the only path that will allow my wishes come true, then I won't hesitate to take it. Not anymore."

If Shirley and Kallen were to both accept Leila, how could he possibly refuse her after that?

"We still have a little time before we have to head out to class," Leila said, smiling as if a great weight had been taken off her shoulders. "Do you think we could play a quick game of chess together?"

"I'd enjoy that," Lelouch said. He still needed time to process everything that had transpired, and chess would be a most welcome diversion. But first, there was another diverting matter that he had to address. Leila was still seated on his bed and clad only in her very revealing nightgown.

Lelouch felt his cheeks burn red as his eyes took in her gorgeous figure.

"But please put some clothes on first," he added after a moment.

He'd never hear the end of it if Sayoko or Nunnally were to walk in on them now.

 **A/N:**

 **Leila's evolved Persona as Freyja was planned for a long time. Coincidentally, between the time that I began the story and now, P5 Royal came out, in which Vanadis, an alternate name for Freyja, appears as a Persona, albeit with a different design.**

 **Leila's Freyja was chosen for several reasons. While Freyja is indeed a Goddess of Love, and thus may seem most suited to the Lovers Arcana, while her chariot may suggest the Chariot Arcana, I thought that she was a good fit for the Priestess Arcana for her talent in** **Seiðr, which she taught both to humans and the Aesir. Known as a branch of sorcery practiced in Norse culture, s** **eiðr is primarily concerned with telling the future and shaping fate itself. But more importantly, s** **eiðr was traditionally a female art, very much situating as a tool of those associated with the Priestess Arcana, which also encompasses sorceresses, wise women, and other female magic-users.** **Seiðr was often seen in a subversive light, which further fits in with the theme of rebellion, and connects nicely to Leila's own canonical supernatural powers.**

 **I also chose Freyja because she is not actually originally one of the Aesir, the ruling pantheon of Norse deities, but a member of Vanir, another group of gods which fought with the Aesir in the past. Freyja first joined the Aesir as a hostage given to them to guarantee peace between the Aesir and Vanir. To me, this was a loose reflection of Leila's status as a Britannian noble (as an aside, Freyja means "Lady", which is the honorific Leila receives as a noble) who feels she does not belong, as her loyalties do not lie with Britannia, and her parents had pro-European leanings.**

 **Freyja will also go on to face Ragnarok, as the Black Knights ultimately must.**

 **As a final note on the reasoning behind the evolution from Jeanne d'Arc to Freyja, in canon, when Leila was known as the "Maid of Orleans", her superiors were using her and planning to martyr her to further their own ambitions. Similarly, to this point in the story, Leila has been a pawn in the schemes between Europia and Britannia, and also of greater powers. In her second awakening, Leila realizes a far more authentic reason to fight, love, which is Freyja's domain.**

 **And of course, cats. Given Leila's own love of cats, once I found that Freyja was also associated with cats, that made establishing Freyja as Leila's evolved Persona even more irresistible.**

 **As Leila's Persona, Freyja nullifies Psychic spells cast by the enemy, and gains resistance to Ice. Freyja remains weak to Fire, but has a better chance of evading it than Jeanne d'Arc.**

 **The ultimate Persona of the Priestess Arcana in canon P5 was Cybele. My beta suggested that perhaps Cybele didn't suitably reflect Lelouch's bond with Leila, so I decided to go with Anat instead, which doubles as a mythology gag.**

 **As for the wine scene, it's established in a picture drama that Leila will display symptoms of drunkenness simply off the smell of alcohol (sake, in the case of the picture drama).** **In real-world Britain, individuals between 16 and 17 years of age are allowed to drink alcohol if supervised by an adult. While Milly is herself an adult by this point (she was already 18 in the first season of Code Geass, which the story has now caught up to in terms of the timeline), that clearly wasn't quite enough to keep the Student Council from getting in trouble if they were to drink the champagne that Rivalz brough in during Episode 3, so Britannia's laws must be different in that regard.**

 **However, nobles do have certain privileges above commoners in Britannia (Milly is technically a commoner due to the disgrace of the Ashford family following the assassination of Empress Marianne). Going with this, and the fact that I'm not aware of anything in canon that specifically contradicts it, I established that privilege for Leila in this story.**

 **That's enough for an author's note for now. Next time, the Black Knights will locate Gao Hai's Treasure, and attempt to steal his corrupt heart!**

 **And while you're waiting, there is a growing TVTropes page for this story. Special thanks to everyone who has contributed to it so far, and feel free to check it out if you're a new follower of the story!**


	59. The Bosses of Greed and Fear

Lelouch had no doubt that Leila had been telling him the truth earlier that morning, but he wanted to hear it from Shirley herself. Unfortunately, holding such a conversation was impossible during the day, when other students were around, and he wanted to keep on a tight timetable for stealing Gao Hai's heart.

True, being personally caught by Gao Hai in his office, and Euphemia's subsequent kidnapping right under the Consul-General's nose would guarantee that their target would be so paranoid about his inner sanctum being compromised that the Cognitive barriers would be down for quite some time, but there was little reason to delay. The sooner they could steal his heart, the better. The last thing they need was to give unforeseen variables a chance to arise and complicate things, especially after how his carefully laid plans at the masquerade ball had almost been completely derailed by such occurrences.

The Black Knights and Irregulars gathered after school around the same alley where they had first met Xingke. Their new ally was already there, waiting for them. Unfortunately, Euphemia was not able to join them as well, due to the increased security around her, but Lelouch had not expected otherwise.

"I was starting to wonder if you were going to show up," Xingke said. "In your rush to leave the consulate, you forgot to specify a meeting time, but I assumed you would show up at the same time of day as our last meeting." He shook his head. "You have no idea how difficult it has been for me to not simply execute that traitor for regicide and lèse majesté, among his other crimes, but I trust that you know what you're doing."

"We'll get you caught up to speed soon enough," Lelouch told him.

Lelouch took out his phone and activated the Metaverse Navigator, bringing them into Gao Hai's Palace. At once, their thief suits materialized.

"Another world can be accessed simply by using one's phone?" Xingke asked incredulously.

"I won't pretend to know exactly how it works either," Lelouch replied. "I admit that I used to be skeptical of such things, but that's the reality of it."

He proceeded to debrief Xingke on the essential aspects of operating in the Metaverse. Given how intelligent Xingke was, Lelouch found that he did not need to spend very much time explaining it to him.

"You'll need a code name in the Metaverse," Lelouch said at the end of his explanation. "We all have one."

"Whatever name you wish to call me by is acceptable, so long as it is reasonably dignified. My sole concerns are the well-being of the Empress and the overthrow of the High Eunuchs who would control her."

"What about 'Dragon'?" Kallen asked. "That's what your mask looks like."

"Zhuge Liang was also sometimes known as the Sleeping Dragon," Lelouch offered. "It fits."

"Very well, Zero," Xingke nodded. "Dragon I shall be."

xXx

They hadn't gone far into Gao Hai's Palace when questions started coming from his teammates, namely as soon as Leila summoned her reborn Persona.

"Wait just a moment!" Kallen snapped as soon as the enemy Shadows were dispatched. "Since when has your Persona been Freyja and not Jeanne d'Arc? It's been completely transfigured, like mine, but that only happened when... What exactly were you doing with Zero last night, Bishop?!"

"I said I didn't mind if you joined us, Bishop," Shirley gasped, "but you were supposed to wait until we had the chance to speak to Kallen about it!"

With sudden dread, Lelouch realized the extent to which his love life, and everything associated with it, was now subject to discussion between his girlfriends. Shirley knew exactly what Kallen meant.

"Ooh, so the truth comes out!" Milly grinned.

"Shut it, Diamond!" Kallen said crossly. "And don't think that you're off the hook either, Zero! She stays over at the Clubhouse, and the next morning her Persona has just so happened to evolve? The two of you had better have a damn good explanation for this!"

There was no way out of the situation that would avoid seriously damaging his relationships with both Kallen and Shirley unless he told them what had happened. But at the same time, it demanded a certain delicacy, especially where Leila's privacy was concerned. He didn't want to carelessly open her wounds of grief anew.

Leila nodded slightly, as if to signal her trust in him and give him permission to proceed. It still felt terribly awkward doing so, especially in front of everyone, but he managed to briefly and truthfully explain how Leila had stumbled drunkenly into his room, and how had decided to keep watch over her for the rest of the night, lest she hurt herself or do something that she would otherwise regret. He left out the most embarrassing details, though he had a feeling that Kallen and Shirley were nonetheless able to read between the lines and guess at the full story.

"You'll also remember that your own Persona transfigured when you had found a new sense of resolution, which served to redefine and strengthen our relationship," he told Kallen as he neared the end of his account. "That happened before... anything else," he said, similarly conscious of Kallen's own privacy, even as he noticed Milly smirking slightly as if she knew as well. "Likewise, Leila's Persona changed when she acknowledged her true reasons for fighting. I think that's what's really important in the process."

"So that's really what happened?" Kallen asked.

"Yes," Lelouch replied. Leila nodded in confirmation.

Kallen shook her head and sighed. "I believe you, Lelouch. That does sound exactly like what you would do in a situation like that."

"I agree," Shirley said. "I knew Lulu wouldn't betray us like that. He's always been a gentleman... even if he doesn't realize how much of an impression it makes."

"Still," Kallen said, eyeing Leila warily, "I get that she was drunk, and not quite in her right mind, but the first thing she does is to make a beeline to your bedroom and _literally_ throw herself into your arms? I'm not psychologist, but that..."

"It's as you say, and I apologize," Leila cut in with a blush. "I will make no excuses for myself." She turned to Shirley. "I hope you will be able to forgive me, but I will understand if you choose to rescind your offer."

"Um, well, I might have done the same thing, if I were in your position," Shirley said sheepishly. "And it's not like anything came of it in the end... Well, except that you have a new Persona... that's pretty incredible! So... yeah... I forgive you, Bishop. Just don't..."

Leila nodded. "I understand. Thank you, Dame."

Xingke stood back, silently observing the scene. Lelouch couldn't see the man's face behind the dragon mask, but he suspected there was a look of amusement on it.

"Do you think this is funny, Dragon?"

"Your love life is none of my business, Zero, so long as it does not interfere with our shared objectives," Xingke replied evenly. "Though I see that the rumors of Zero and his five female companions-"

"They're not," Lelouch cut in.

Xingke's silence was proof of his skepticism.

"Not like that," Lelouch added. It had been just two until Leila had made her confession, with any luck it wouldn't go any higher than three, lest his relationships become impossible to manage.

"It was a common practice for the Chinese Emperors of old to have their own harems, some of which could have over a hundred women in it, all ranked in a strict hierarchy from concubines to consorts to the Emperor's official wife, the Empress," Xingke said, a hint of amusement in his voice. "The only modern world leader with such a large number of consorts is the Emperor of Britannia. I do not envy you, Zero, but I wonder if he made quite the impression upon you."

Xingke didn't know of his lineage, but Lelouch's face contorted at being compared to his father. He was about to offer a retort, but to his surprise, Nunnally spoke up first.

"As much as he hates him, I don't think my brother is aiming outdo our father there," Nunnally said cheerfully. "I think quality is more important than quantity." Her smile grew. "Now I have three future sister-in-laws to look forward to, all of whom I can count on to protect my brother."

"Excuse me?" Xingke said, doubtlessly wondering if he had heard that correctly. Lelouch was also wondering that, but for different reasons.

"Nemo!" Shirley gasped, putting her hands to her mouth.

"Aw, she's all grown up!" Milly beamed.

They were in for another long explanation, weren't they?

xXx

Xingke listened patiently through his account of how he had been exiled along with Nunnally following the death of their mother. In the end though, Xingke simply nodded.

"I admit that I was surprised when I heard your sister say that," Xingke said, "but in the end it makes little difference where our mission is concerned. Perhaps I would have a harder time accepting it if I did not already know that one of Charles zi Britannia's children was working with you, and that another seems to be investigating Gao Hai as well. But now it's clear to me why you wore such a concealing mask at the ball. Rest assured, if we manage to steal Gao Hai's heart, you need not fear me sharing your secret with anyone else."

"If?" Lelouch asked.

"True, failure is not an option for any of us," Xingke replied. "But in any case, it would become the least of our problems."

xXx

They made their way past the Cognitive barriers, bringing them to the final section of the Palace, the ruler's innermost sanctum. It was well-guarded, but the Shadows were no match for two teams of Persona-users. Granted, they were down a member, but Freyja was more powerful than Jeanne d'Arc had ever been, and Xingke's fierce determination and natural skill as a soldier largely made up for his inexperience in the Metaverse. Even when a dragon like the ones they had seen flying over the city blocked their way, the Black Knights and Irregulars forced their way through.

"That was Seiryu," Kallen said.

"In the Chinese Federation, we know him as Qīnglóng, the Blue-Green Dragon of the East," Xingke replied. He clenched a fist. "To think that even Qīnglóng woud be perverted by Gao Hai's greed. Clearly, there is nothing that the High Eunuchs cannot corrupt."

"That will change after we steal Gao Hai's Treasure," Lelouch said. "Life will change throughout the entire Chinese Federation, no, the world. No one will be able to ignore us after this." He glanced to Leila. "How much further to the Treasure?"

"It should be right beyond here," she replied promptly. "I think that was the last guardian between us and it."

"I can confirm that," Lucretia spoke up. "There also appears to be some sort of passage nearby leading under the city. It may even lead all the way past the outer walls."

"An escape route, for that coward to slip away through," Xingke snarled.

"But one that we can make use of," Arthur said.

"Indeed," Lelouch nodded.

After a short gilded corridor, they advanced into Gao Hai's throne room. Mountainous piles of plunder lined the sides of the cavernous chamber, nestled between tall pillars, but at the room's far end was Gao Hai's true Treasure, shimmering indistinctly above the self-styled Huangdi's throne.

"Is that it?" Xingke asked skeptically. "That's the 'Treasure' you spoke of, Zero? Gao Hai's heart will change if we steal that... thing?"

"Exactly, Dragon. Of course, in order to actually be able to steal it, we need to give Gao Hai's Treasure a physical form. In order to do that, we need to send Gao Hai a calling card..."

He smirked.

"And you're the perfect one do to it."

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 19.6%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 13**

xXx

"Consul-General, we found this outside," Xingke said, handing a red card, emblazoned with the emblem of the Black Knights to the traitor whom he was assigned to guard. It still took every ounce of his willpower not to draw his sword and cut Gao Hai down where he stood, but Xingke had been patient for many years, and could wait a little longer. "Per our standard procedure, the package it arrived in was subjected to a thorough check for explosives and harmful contaminants, but it came up clean." Xingke paused for a moment. "I think you should read it."

"What is this?" Gao Hai asked in that ever-irritating voice of his. "You had better not be wasting my time, Xingke, especially after your men were so incompetent to let a bunch of teenagers sneak into my office and then have Princess Euphemia abducted right under your nose. Do you have any idea how far that could have set us back? You'll be sorry if this turns out to be some kind of prank."

"My sincerest apologies." He had suggested that the "anonymous tip" had been from the beginning a ploy to ensure that the consulate's guards were elsewhere while the Princess was kidnapped, and Gao Hai had been the one to order them to the office, but Gao Hai would never let himself be blamed for anything.

"Anyway, let's see," Gao Hai said, holding up the calling card. He began to read, and grew visibly angrier by the moment.

"To the Golden Would-Be Emperor of Greed, Gao Hai, High Eunuch of the Chinese Federation: your crimes are almost too many to be enumerated. Not only would you oppress an entire nation and squeeze its people dry, but you plan to sell them and a young girl out, delivering them into the jaws of Britannia, and sacrificing them at the altar of your ambitions, while caring nothing for those you have already allowed to be sold into slavery and torment. Your venality and treachery, and that of the other High Eunuchs, knows no bounds, and so we have decided to steal your distorted desires. You will be made to confess to your crimes with your own mouth, and watch as everything you have worked for crumbles when the people rise up against you. Signed, the Black Knights and the Irregulars."

"How very rude!" Gao Hai seethed, and suddenly, the world distorted around him, leaving Xingke face to face with Shadow Gao Hai. Lady Breisgau, alias Bishop, had warned him that something like this might happen, recounting her own experience in personally delivering a calling card to Prince Clovis, but Xingke still couldn't say that he was quite prepared for it.

"I didn't expect you to act so soon, Xingke! And now you've even thrown in your lot with some ragtag thieves!" Shadow Gao Hai laughed. "Come and try to steal my Treasure then, and your precious little Empress with it! I'll be waiting for you, Xingke!"

The distortion vanished, and the world flickered back to normal. Gao Hai didn't seem to have noticed the phenomenon himself, but was just as angry as his Shadow had been.

"These uncouth thieves must not be allowed to disrupt our plans for Her Majesty's wedding!" Gao Hai shouted. "Xingke, I want you to double all the patrols! Kill any intruders on sight! Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, it's all perfectly clear," Xingke replied.

It was time to bring the reign of the High Eunuchs to an end.

xXx

Euphemia had received Lelouch's message. The calling card had been sent. They were going to steal Gao Hai's heart. Thanks to the device fitted to her phone, there was little chance that the message could be intercepted, or even read without her password. But she had another, far more pressing problem.

How was she going to get past her new bodyguard?

Cornelia's wrath had been terrible to behold, not only at the news that her little sister had been kidnapped, but that Schneizel had assigned an 'Eleven' to an Imperial Princess's protection without consulting with her first. But in spite of Cornelia's prejudice, Euphemia had found that Suzaku remained assigned to her.

Schneizel had always had a way with words. Not only was Suzaku now seen as a hero among many Britannians, but he had succeeded at rescuing her and returning her to her older sister unharmed, where even the Knights of the Round had failed. Did that success not matter more to Cornelia than where Suzaku had happened to be born? That was probably what Schneizel had said to Cornelia, or something like it.

Euphemia didn't want to hurt Suzaku. He was just doing his job, and she felt that he had a good heart, even if he was sorely misguided. But, in any case, overpowering him wasn't an option. That was par for the course in the real world given that he was a trained combatant and she was not, but that gulf would only widen instead of turning the tables on him if she was to pull him into the Metaverse with her phone. She had seen the power of his Persona, Lancelot, firsthand. It vastly outclassed her own, a fact that was all too evident from how he had been able to fight off Loki, the Black Mask's Persona, which itself had appeared to be monstrously powerful.

She wasn't even sure if Kallen would be able to beat Suzaku one-on-one. Lelouch might be able to win, but that would only come from tactics and the versatility of his Wild Card, rather than overpowering Suzaku outright.

But she also had Suzaku's questions to contend with.

"Princess Euphemia, for how long have you been a Persona-user? I've been in the Metaverse by myself for so long that it's a relief to find another person who I can talk to about it."

She looked back at him, not trusting herself to respond, lest she let something slip and betray Lelouch, Nunnally, and their friends in the Black Knights and Irregulars.

"You can't tell me?" Suzaku frowned. He sounded gravely concerned. "Is it because... you're a Black Knight?"

"I wasn't aware that this was an interrogation!" Euphemia snapped, surprising even herself, as all of her pent-up frustration sought an escape. "And so what if I am?" she added defiantly.

"Princess, keep your voice down," Suzaku urged her. "I haven't told anyone that you're a Persona-user: not Viceroy Cornelia, nor Prince Schneizel. He doesn't have a Persona, nor any way to enter on the Metaverse on his own, so he has no way of knowing unless someone tells him."

"Are you threatening to tell him?" Euphemia asked.

"Not at all," Suzaku replied. "I just want to understand... why would you be working with them? I'd much rather change your mind than see you hurt. You have to know by now how dangerous that other world is. Even a lesser Shadow can be a deadly threat by itself, and if you're unlucky, a fight can turn against you in a blink of an eye."

Euphemia knew that to be true. If a Shadow were to hit Eilonwy with a psychic attack, afflict her with any of a number of harmful ailments, or even simply strike a lucky blow against her, she would be at its mercy.

"That said, it's not too late for us to work together," Suzaku continued. "Lancelot's pretty powerful, but I could do so much more if I had someone else backing me up. And as a Princess, you could make so much of a difference, not just in the Metaverse, but in the real world too. So why throw that away?"

"Let me ask you something first, Suzaku," Euphemia said softly. "Why are you working with Schneizel?"

"If I work within the system, I can change things for the better. The way the Black Knights go about doing things, they'll just tear everything down, out of a sense of righteousness, but far too many people will get hurt. Maybe my way of doing things isn't as quick as theirs, but it will last. You can change a few hearts, but you can't change human nature all at once. That takes time. Anarchy is the last thing any of us need right now."

"That's not what I asked, Suzaku," Euphemia said more insistently. "Why are you working with _Schneizel_?"

"He gave me-"

"If you're so convinced that I'm a Black Knight, then you know that what Schneizel said simply wasn't true. What would the Black Knights gain from kidnapping me? But he went ahead and blamed them anyway for it."

"And that's not all," Euphemia continued. "You were right up there on the dais with us, and you heard what Gao Hai said. He was selling out his own people! But that's only the surface of it! Do you have any idea what kind of a monster Gao Hai really is? You have to! You've been in his Palace! That you were even able to follow me there proves that you know the keywords to enter it, Suzaku! Gao Hai. Chinese Federation Consulate. Forbidden City. It's the Forbidden City of Greed! That's the sort of man Schneizel is working with! But you continue to stand by Schneizel! So what does that say about you, Suzaku?"

Suzaku looked as if he had been slapped.

"If I have a choice between following the law, even as it crushes countless people, or actually doing some good, I know what I'm going to choose, Suzaku! Yes, some people are going to get hurt. I struggled with that too! Really, I did! Knowing that still gnaws away at me. But we can't just take our time, and solve things through the existing system! Those people need help now, and it's that very system that's oppressing them, all in the name of security and stability. People like Gao Hai are never going to give up their power voluntarily, and so they'll continue to destroy more and more lives the longer we delay. So there! I said it! If you can't accept that, then feel free to turn me in right now, Suzaku Kururugi!"

"Princess Euphemia..." Suzaku whispered. He shook his head. "You really are something, you know."

"Suzaku?" she asked, suddenly unsure of what to make of him.

"As you know, I'm assigned to your protection. If you'd like to go out around the city, I can escort you. Of course, you're also known for your skill in slipping away from your guards. The settlement is a big place. It could take a while for me to find you."

"Suzaku-" she murmured. "Can't you-?"

He shook his head. "I can't. But you have friends that you can count on, right?"

She nodded, a feeling of pure gratitude warming her. "Thank you, Suzaku. I knew that you had a good heart."

xXx

"Suzaku let you go?" Lelouch asked incredulously.

"You should be more honest with him," his Euphemia replied. "You might actually get through to him that way. But I wasn't going to miss being there when you're all fighting to put an end to Gao Hai's crimes once and for all!"

She might be his favorite half-sister, but that was so reckless of her! Then again, perhaps it was that rash passion of hers and her steadfast commitment to what she believed in that made him like Euphemia so much over his other half-siblings.

"I'm glad you're here, Noire," he told her. "That could have gone very differently."

"You're quite different than your public image would suggest," Xingke murmured.

"But in so many other ways, she's the same as always," Lelouch smiled in spite of himself.

xXx

There was of course one last set of preparations Lelouch needed to make before heading out to take Gao Hai's Treasure, namely fusing new Personas in the Velvet Room. As always, Shi and Tsu guided him through the process, helping him see the possibilities within his soul, while Igor simply sat back, letting them do all of the work.

The Persona Scathach appeared to be quite promising, with no inherent weaknesses, immunity to curse magic, and the ability to repel ice spells. Scathach also had a good balance of potent physical and magical abilities, with a slight lean toward the latter. Moreover, it was from the Priestess Arcana. Igor told him that Scathach would be sure to receive a great deal of power upon fusion, but that wasn't anything that Lelouch didn't already know. He could feel it, through his bond with Leila.

There were many different combinations of Personas that he could execute to create Scathach. However, one in particular stood out to him. First he called up Koumokuten, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, which he had created the day before, taking advantage of the power granted by his bond with Nina. And then...

He brought forth Lilim.

"Wait! You're executing me already?!" Lilim cried. "I've been good! And I thought I had finally got through to you! Didn't you listen to what I said? If you think that killing me is going to-"

"You'll always be a part of me, won't you, Lilim?" Lelouch asked. He sighed. It really wasn't anything personal, but the immunity to bless magic that Lilim had acquired while in Lockdown was of great value, especially if passed along to more powerful Personas.

"I really do have to thank you, though," he told her softly. "You helped me be more honest with my feelings." He paused. "We'll be seeing each other again."

He felt it keenly as the guillotine's blade descended upon Lilim, ending her life, but at once her released essence began to fuse with that of Koumokuten, creating Scathach in a flash of light. She took the form of a pale-skinned woman, dressed in a red shamaness' hat and a revealing two-piece black outfit, over which crimson robes were draped, kneeling in midair.

The power that she had just received was palpable. Not only had Scathach inherited Lilim's acquired immunity to bless magic, but she had gained Koumokuten's ability to unleash the chaotic spirit of revolution in battle, granting friend and foe alike the chance to strike far harder than normal. Such a maneuver was inherently a gamble, but since they could usually choose their fights, the Black Knights and Irregulars would normally outnumber their enemies, tilting the balance in their favor. Scathach had also inherited Koumokuten's enduring soul, the will to fight on even after sustaining what would otherwise be fatal wounds, and the ability to channel his deadly fury into a strike sure to deal severe damage to the enemy.

With Scathach's creation, Lelouch realized that Isis, who had long served as his protector against both bless and curse magic, was obsolete. Scathach carried out the same function while offering additional protection against ice, and had far superior combat abilities on top of that. He felt another twinge of regret when executing her at the gallows, recalling how Isis had helped him save Shirley's life from her berserk Shadow, but her power would live on as part of Scathach, her successor.

Turning to his wardens, Lelouch paid Tsu to summon Lilim back from the Persona Compendium.

"It's not nice to execute a girl out of the blue like that!" Lilim said crossly.

"I brought you back, didn't I?" Lelouch said. "And I'll do so again."

"Wait, what?!"

Sighing, Lelouch had Lilim executed for the second time that day, this time fusing her with Kikuri-Hime, another Persona of the Priestess Arcana, so that he could create Girimehkala, of the Moon Arcana.

At least Rolo was useful for something as power flowed into Girimehkala from the bond that had formed between him and the detective. Rolo was hiding things from them, of that Lelouch was sure, just as he acted as a friend to Rolo while seeking to lead his investigations astray and exploit their bond for his own gain in the Metaverse. But was the essence of the Moon Arcana not deception and delusion? It summed up their bond perfectly.

The new Persona appeared, a demonic, one-eyed, bipedal elephant armed with a sword. Girimehkala had perhaps an even more impressive innate set of resistances than Scathach did, repelling both direct physical and projectile attacks, in addition to nullifying curse spells and resisting fire. Thus another Persona who had long served him well, Shiki Ouji, was rendered obsolete. Girimehkala's main drawback was a glaring weakness to bless magic... but Lilim conveniently fixed that for him.

Returning to Tsu, Lelouch paid once more to have Lilim returned to him.

"Are you done executing me?" Lilim asked. "I'm starting to think that you're some kind of sadist."

"I'm done for now, yes," Lelouch said. "I know that was no way to thank you. But I'll be keeping you around for a little longer."

"That's progress, I guess..." Lilim sighed.

xXx

Lelouch returned from the Velvet Room, rejoining his allies in the Palace. Xingke had already been filled in on how he needed a few minutes to organize his Personas before entering a Palace, during which he would appear to be zoned out, so the bodyguard did not react with alarm.

"Are you finished, Zero?"

"I am, Dragon," he nodded. "All necessary tasks have been cleared. Now let's steal Gao Hai's heart!"

xXx

The Palace was on high alert, but the Black Knights and Irregulars were able to bypass most of its defenses by traveling through the secret passage that Lucretia had discovered. All their heists up to this point seemed like mere games compared to what they were about to do, but no matter what, they would see it through. Their numbers had multiplied tremendously over the past few months, and as their power grew, Britannia's attempts to stop them would show that they might as go try to stop time itself. When they stole his heart, Gao Hai may well try to fight in vain against it, but in the end, his empire would fall apart.

They met the stiffest resistance after emerging from the passage, directly outside of the throne room, but they had all been through far worse together. All that remained was to defeat Gao Hai's Shadow and take his Treasure by force. From experience, Lelouch didn't expect it to go any other way.

"You really should learn some manners," Shadow Gao Hai said, seated on his throne and still wearing his ridiculous gilded robes. "You left such a dreadful mess outside my hall."

"You're the one who's going to have to learn some remorse for what you've done - and the meaning of pain!" Kallen shouted back.

"You think you can touch me?" Shadow Gao Hai laughed. "I have the backing of Prince Schneizel, and with it, the mightiest empire on the planet behind me, not to mention the manpower and resources of the entire Chinese Federation. What can a mere... dozen of you do against two-thirds of the world?"

"Hey, don't forget me!" Arthur shouted indignantly.

"You seem to forget who you're dealing with," Lelouch laughed maniacally. "I am Zero... a man of miracles! Together, with my friends, I'll make the impossible possible, and destroy this corrupt world so that it can be made anew!"

"You've got nowhere to run, Gao Hai!" Xingke roared, brandishing his blade at the Shadow.

"I beg to differ, Xingke," Shadow Gao Hai smirked. "Soon, I'll be far away from this place. It's taken so long to get here, you know. Leaving behind my worthless parents, who were simply common criminals... Sacrificing my very manhood to have a chance to rise above my station... And of course, having to constantly pay lip service to that china doll of an Empress and her parents before her. It all gets very tiring, I assure you."

"You're nothing more than a thief and a murderer!" Xingke shouted back.

"Says the thief and traitor," Shadow Gao Hai sneered. He began to laugh, his voice suddenly seeming far more menacing than before. "But at last, I finally get to reveal my true self to you all..."

Dark energy converged on Shadow Gao Hai. But to their surprise, they were quite underwhelmed by his transformation.

"Huh?" Milly asked.

"He's exactly the same as before, but now he's being carried in an Emperor's litter..." Kallen said in confusion and disdain.

"This... isn't what I expected," Shirley murmured.

"Be careful!" Leila called. "Something else is coming!"

"I am the Demon of Greed, Gao Mammon Hai!" Mammon giggled to himself. "It'll be a little while before the Second Prince arrives to transport me to Britannia, so I'll have to keep you busy until then. Fortunately, China has no shortage of expendable troops to throw at you." He snapped his fingers, and the ground began to rumble.

"There are so many of them..." Euphemia gasped. "And I thought Alciel had a lot of backup!"

An entire terracotta army now stood between them and Mammon.

"You mean, we get to smash all of them?" Dalque grinned. "No need to hold back then! Give the word, Nemo, and I'll charge right through 'em!"

"No matter how many you throw at us, you won't escape my blade in the end, Gao Hai!" Xingke shouted.

"Carve a path through them! Don't let yourselves get surrounded!" Lelouch ordered.

"Irregulars, crush them!" Nunnally snarled, her eyes turning golden as she let Nemo take over.

Nunnally and Dalque leapt right into the fray, while Guren Jigoku took flight, sweeping wide swathes of destruction over the battlefield, and Maid Marian fired barrages of projectiles that were sure to hit among so many targets. Medea's fire wasn't terribly effective on its own against terracotta, but she was able to use her charms to sow confusion in the enemy ranks, and cast Matarunda to weaken the opposing soldiers' offensive capabilities.

Further back, Arthur and Alice conjured powerful gusts of wind that toppled and shattered a number of terracotta soldiers, while Sancia carefully chose her targets, conjuring ice to open up cracks and burst the enemy apart. Euphemia was ready to heal on a moment's notice, and Leila cast Marakukaja, wrapping her allies in a defensive aura, before switching to exploiting the openings that Milly had created for her with psychokinetic magic. All the while, Lucretia provided additional support from afar, and Lelouch switched between Personas as needed to keep the pressure on the enemy.

"Archers, fire!" a familiar voice, but more gravelly-sounding, shouted, before breaking into a coughing fit.

So Cognitive Xingke was back. Of course. He would continue to appear for as long as the Palace ruler had use of him.

A hail of arrows flew into the air. Guren Jigoku deftly dodged most of them, but a few got lodged in its side.

"Ugh!" Kallen groaned, though thankfully she wasn't badly hurt. "That pisses me off!"

"Queen, fall back!" He ordered. "There are too many of them!" Individually, each archer was posed little threat to Guren Jigoku, but together they would certainly overwhelm her.

"Got it, Zero!" she called back.

Those archers were a problem... The other Black Knights and Irregulars couldn't get near them for long without being shot out of the air. Girimehkala would protect him from the Archers, allowing him to pick them off in safety, but plenty of arrows would still be able to fly past his Persona to threaten his teammates. Lelouch knew that he needed a faster way to dispose of the archers. But as he quickly glanced around the room, he had an idea.

"Everyone not on healing, target and destabilize that pile of plunder in the rear! Hit it at range and with magic!"

The gold clattered noisily as the Black Knights and Irregulars barraged it with attacks, and once Kallen joined the assault, directing a concentrated beam of nuclear energy at the bottom of the mountain, it began to melt outright. In spite of gold's high density, it had a relatively low melting point, just 1,063 ºC when pure, and Guren Jigoku's fury far exceeded that. Without adequate support from below, the whole pile began to creak, and then they managed to dislodge the top, pitching it forward and causing it to gain large amounts of kinetic energy as it fell. It crashed down on the archers, smashing them in an inexorable wave of golden destruction, and quite possibly made for the most expensive avalanche ever.

"You used the very environment of the Palace against them, Zero," Xingke murmured next to him. "I could learn something from your tactics."

"You may have smashed a few soldiers, but I still have two Knights of the Round from Prince Schneizel," Mammon said, crossing his arms as two more terracotta Cognitions emerged amid the rubble, doppelgängers of Gino Weinberg and Anya Alstreim.

"Gino's mine!" Kallen shouted, uncomfortably reminding Lelouch of his nightmare, though he was immediately reassured by what she said next. "I can't wait to smash in that cocky mug of his!"

"Leave the Knight of Six to the Irregulars!" Nunnally called, still possessed by her Shadow. She let out a vicious smile. "I'll show her who really is Marianne's successor!"

The two Cognitive Knights of the Round were far tougher than any of the other terracotta soldiers, but they were still badly outnumbered. After a short but intense fight, Kallen triumphantly seized Cognitive Gino's head in Guren's Jigoku's claws and blasted him at point-blank range, while Freyja and Maid Marian followed up with their own spells for good measure.

Cognitive Anya and the Irregulars were more evenly matched, with Nunnally and the Cognition trading barrages of withering magical firepower at each other, mixed with brutal melee strikes. But as it turned out, Nunnally was using herself as a decoy. While Cognitive Anya was single-mindedly focused on destroying his little sister, Alice darted behind her and impaled the Cognitive Knight of Six with Bradamante's spear. Cognitive Anya's only reaction was to blink in dull surprise before Nunnally finished her off.

"You're awfully persistent," Mammon frowned, "and there's still some time before Prince Schneizel arrives. And I must say, this battle has gotten awfully close for comfort. I guess I have no choice. Xingke!"

"What do you want?" Cognitive Xingke asked.

"I'll give you one more chance... win, and I'll ensure the safety of the Empress. Otherwise..."

"You already know my answer."

"Splendid! Then let's introduce these thieves to that secret little project we've been working on, with the weapons research coming out of the Militarized Zone of India. It won't be complete for quite some time, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Xingke, I bestow upon you... Shen Hu!"

Suddenly, there was a tremendous roar, and the air around Cognitive Xingke distorted, dark energy swirling and forming into a gigantic terracotta tiger, over four meters in height. In another moment, its surfaces were painted a dark blue-violet, and then it gained shimmering fur as it fully came to life. Cognitive Xingke was seated atop the beast, holding its reins in his hands.

"Shen Hu... Divine Tiger," Leila whispered.

"I'll withdraw to a safe distance now," Mammon said, the throne room impossibly seeming to stretch back behind him. More energy converged, forming an enormous, pyramidal-shaped mobile fortress, armed with a massive central cannon and multiple smaller turrets. "Remember, Xingke," Mammon called back as he boarded the fortress, "the Empress' fate is in your hands! Don't disappoint me!"

"Zero, he's getting away!" Milly cried.

"There's no way that his Cognition of Xingke is letting us past until his last breath. We'll have to destroy him and Shen Hu first!"

"The Empress has no need for thieves," Cognitive Xingke declared from his perch atop the Divine Tiger's back. "I will see to her protection myself! If you would stand in my way, then you must die, without further delay!"

The Black Knights and Irregulars launched their attack upon the Divine Tiger. However, its armored hide was thick and far tougher than it had any right to be, rendering it impervious to physical attacks. Even when Euphemia tried lobbing a grenade at it, the Divine Tiger was unscathed.

Damn! Gao Hai knew just how utterly determined Xingke was to protect the Empress, and fully believed in that fact as something he could exploit, which had created an exceptionally powerful Cognition.

The Divine Tiger swiped its claws, but they weren't ordinary claws. They detached themselves from its paws, connected to them only by long cables, shooting forward like thrown daggers. Lelouch recognized what they really were.

They were a Knightmare Frame's Slash Harkens.

The Slash Harkens took the Black Knights and Irregulars by surprise, who hadn't expected the Divine Tiger to be able to attack at such a range, and inflicted heavy damage upon them. To his horror, Lelouch saw that Shirley had been struck by one of the Slash Harkens. It had only grazed her, but that it had still cut a deep wound across her stomach, causing blood to start pouring out of it, a scene almost directly out of his nightmares. Thankfully, those with Personas specialized in healing were close enough to help, and with prompt attention they'd be able to seal Shirley's wound and regenerate lost blood, ensuring that she would survive. But it was far too close of a call, and it filled him with rage.

"Scathach!" he shouted furiously.

His Persona promptly cast Magarula, blasting the Divine Tiger with powerful gusts of wind.

Lelouch had hoped that the Divine Tiger would retain the terracotta soldiers' weakness to wind, as it had been first created as such a construct. The spell did damage the beast, and Lelouch thought he could hear the sound of terracotta cracking under its fur, but it wasn't nearly enough to stagger the Divine Tiger.

Kallen was also enraged by Shirley's injury, and sent Guren Jigoku charging in, firing multiple bursts of concentrated radiation toward the Divine Tiger. In another moment, Cognitive Xingke would be in range. If she could strike him directly, then maybe...

With sudden dread, Lelouch saw Cognitive Xingke smirk. The Divine Tiger was raising a paw up in the air, leveling it toward Guren Jigoku.

"Queen! Watch out! He's going to-!"

The Slash Harkens fired once again from the Divine Tiger's paws, but instead of impaling Guren Jigoku, they wrapped themselves tightly around Kallen's Persona, causing her to writhe in pain as if she was the one caught.

Lelouch remembered his Persona being similarly caught by Leviathan's tentacles long ago, but unlike him, Kallen couldn't change her Persona into another form that might enable her to escape. Maybe she could have simply un-summoned Guren Jigoku, but in the next moment, the Divine Tiger sent electricity crackling up the cables, which reached Guren Jigoku in moments.

Kallen let out an agonized scream as her Persona was electrocuted, preventing her from doing anything else. It didn't seem to be a lethal voltage, meant to disable its prey rather than killing it outright, but that was hardly reassuring. Sensing victory, the Divine Tiger let out a roar and began pulling Guren Jigoku in, snapping its teeth like a predator long starved for a meal.

It would kill Kallen if the Divine Tiger managed to take a large enough bite out of her Persona.

"Freyja!" Leila's voice called out. There she was, leaping onto the chariot that appeared and taking her place alongside the Goddess of Love, who began driving it perpendicularly to the Divine Tiger. Hissing, the beast fired the Slash Harkens in its other front paw at Leila and Freyja, but the goddess's shield protected the pair from the worst of the blow. Lelouch could still see Leila grit her teeth in pain, but she remained focused on her mission.

As she neared Guren Jigoku's position, Leila raised the naginata that she had once pilfered from the Black King's Palace. It was a weapon that she rarely used, as Leila usually hung back to cast magic or analyze the enemy, but at once her plan became clear to Lelouch. She was going to try to use its reach to cut the cables binding Guren Jigoku. But those cables were electrified! Leila had a very good chance of getting herself badly hurt if she went through with it. The wood of the shaft might offer her some insulation from its effects, but if the voltage was too high it could arc down from the blade to strike her body, or the shaft might even burst into sharp splinters that would be driven into her face and hands.

Lelouch knew he had only seconds to act. "Neko Shogun!" he shouted.

The feline commander appeared at once. "Dame!" Lelouch shouted. "Use your Persona to launch mine toward those cables!"

Shirley seemed shocked by the bizarre order, and she had only just recovered from her previous injury, but she complied at once. Lelouch tossed Neko Shogun so that he could grab the shaft of one of Maid Marian's arrows, who then released it, sending the cat flying. Knowing exactly what had to be done, Neko Shogun deftly swung one of Lelouch's knives, which it held in its mouth, and cut through one of the cables binding Guren Jigoku before Leila could reach it. Thankfully they, unlike the main body, were vulnerable to physical attack.

Lelouch felt himself shudder slightly in pain as electricity briefly arced to his own Persona instead, but Neko Shogun resisted electrical attacks, and so he was spared from serious harm.

Leila seemed as surprised as anyone else, but managed to catch Neko Shogun as he fell. It wasn't strictly necessary, as Neko Shogun would vanish a moment later anyway, but he let out a contented purr nonetheless, as if remembering that Leila was the one who had shown him such kindness upon his recruitment.

With one of the cables destroyed and the flow of the current interrupted, Kallen found enough strength to wrest Guren Jigoku's claw free. Aiming it down the length of the remaining cable, her Persona fired a beam of nuclear energy that melted them to slag and left one of the Divine Tiger's paws ruined. The beast roared in rage as its prey escaped from it.

"Thanks, everyone!" Kallen called. "I almost thought it had me! That was some pretty crazy driving there, Bishop! And you never cease to amaze me with the plans you come up with, Zero!"

"Anytime," Leila replied, sounding relieved.

"Everyone, you saw what to do!" Lelouch ordered. He too was glad that Kallen was safe, but they didn't have time to waste. "Hobble that thing!"

"Right, Zero!" Shirley called. "Maid Marian!" she called, pulling off her mask once more. "Makouga!"

Spears of light appeared in midair, a pair over each of the Divine Tiger's remaining paws. Empowered by the Koh-i-Noor, they impaled them with great force, the magic piercing its physical defenses as if they weren't even there.

The paws weren't fully out of commission yet though, so Nunnally led the Irregulars to attack the Divine Tiger's rear legs, while the Black Knights focused on the remaining paw in the front. Nunnally, or rather, her Shadow, could be seen taking sadistic glee in using Nunnally's Personas to rip out the Slash Harkens from the rear paws, causing Arthur to shudder a little, as if empathizing with his fellow feline's pain.

"Zhuge Liang!" Xingke shouted out. "Ziodyne!"

A bolt of lightning struck the Divine Tiger from above, causing it to suddenly spasm. Of course. While the Divine Tiger had started as a terracotta beast, Mammon saw it as a reflection of a prototype Knightmare Frame, so it was as if the spell had overloaded all of its circuits at once.

"The enemy is incapacitated! Launch an all-out attack!"

The Black Knights and Irregulars descended upon the now-vulnerable Divine Tiger with all of their fury.

"To think that you would push me this far," Cognitive Xingke scowled. The Divine Tiger remained crippled on the ground, unable to move. "It sees you leave me no choice. Activate float system."

At once, four wings sprouted from the Divine Tiger's back, and it took to the air.

"It can fly now?" Arthur asked, as if not believing what he was seeing.

"No fair, that's totally cheating!" Dalque whined.

"Stay focused," Sancia reprimanded her.

"The enemy's affinities have changed," Lucretia announced. "Magic will be ineffective."

"I'm sensing a powerful energy buildup within it!" Leila called urgently. "Everyone, pull back!"

The Divine Tiger reared its head back and then opened its mouth wide, issuing a deadly beam of nuclear energy, not unlike Guren Jigoku's, but much wider. Thanks to Leila's timely warning, they were all able to avoid injury, even as it carved a deep gash in the floor.

At first, the two teams tried to target the Divine Tiger's wings, but while small arms fire could penetrate them, they weren't doing enough damage to compromise their overall structural integrity, and the Divine Tiger moved quickly through the air, making it difficult to aim. Guren Jigoku had some more success, and could attack without fear of the Divine Tiger's nuclear breath, but as soon as Cognitive Xingke realized this, he began casting Megidola. Those laser-like beams could effortlessly bypass Guren Jigoku's elemental defenses, and so Kallen's Persona was forced to pull up from what would have been several promising attack runs.

Time was running out before Mammon would make an escape with the arrival of Cognitive Schneizel, and they still hadn't destroyed the Divine Tiger. The damn thing only stopped flying about when it was charging up its big attack.

Lelouch smirked as a plan formed in his mind.

"Nemo, grab that Slash Harken you pulled out earlier, and give it to Queen!"

Nunnally blinked, her eyes returning to their regular violet color. "You got it, Zero!"

"Queen, use your Persona to throw the tip of that Slash Harken as hard as you can into that pillar over there!"

Kallen didn't question him.

"Dame!"

"Yes?"

"You're coming with me," he said, tightly wrapping an arm around her as he grasped the end of the Slash Harken's cable. "Trust me."

The Divine Tiger was looming over them now, building up nuclear energy within its core.

"Do it now, Queen!"

Guren Jigoku appeared and hurled the Slash Harken through the air, pulling Lelouch and Shirley with it high into the air. Angling their bodies, the cable wrapped around the pillar, bringing them around, and presenting Shirley with a clean line of fire at Cognitive Xingke, seated exposed on the Divine Tiger's back.

"Dame, it's showtime!" He shouted.

She knew what to do, and fired multiple rounds, aiming at the center of Cognitive Xingke's mass.

Her aim was true. The bullets punched through Cognitive Xingke's already weakened terracotta body, opening up gaping holes in it.

"My Empress..." Cognitive Xingke gasped. "I've failed y-"

The Cognition let out a violent cough, which shattered what remained of him. Suddenly without a rider or guiding purpose, the Divine Tiger fell to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, breaking apart upon impact as its fur lost its brilliant color and its body reverted to lifeless terra-cotta.

At the same time, Lelouch made his landing, and managed to catch Shirley under her waist to break her fall, though it happened in a way that made it look as if they had just completed a complex dance routine together. Lelouch could see a blush on Shirley's face, peeking out from under her mask, followed by a bright smile, but then she was back up on her feet, ready to continue the fight.

"Very impressive," Mammon's voice echoed around them. "I did not expect you to defeat my Xingke. But ultimately, he was expendable, and he served his role. I simply need to hold out for a few minutes longer in this mobile fortress, and then Prince Schneizel will arrive to save me."

"Rather it will be your tomb, as befits an Emperor of Greed," Xingke said coldly.

Lelouch glanced around him. Both the Black Knights and Irregulars were exhausted from fighting off the terracotta army, Knights of the Round, and the Divine Tiger without pause, and it was clear that Mammon's outer defenses would not be easy to crack through conventional means.

But they had already come too far to turn back now, and time was ticking.

"It's now or never, everyone," Lelouch said. "I know that you've all already made your decisions, but remember what we're all here for. When we defeat Gao Hai here, we'll create a new life for countless people in the Chinese Federation, who currently live in poverty and fear, and truly take our first step toward making a new world. No matter what we face before us we'll overcome it... even if we have to do what seems impossible, like creating a river in the desert!"

"That's right!" Euphemia nodded, dirtied from the dust and fragments of terracotta that had scattered everywhere with the fall of the Divine Tiger, but no less pure in her conviction.

"Hmm hmm hmm!" Mammon laughed. "A pretty speech! It's too bad you'll never come to see that be reality! Now come! Why don't you entertain me for a few more minutes?"

The mobile fortress, or as Xingke had put it, the Emperor's Tomb, advanced, lowering its main gun to aim at them.

"Take evasive action!" Lelouch ordered.

The Black Knights and Irregulars scattered as the shells the Emperor's Tomb had fired exploded, creating a large crater behind them.

"That's based on a Longdan," Xingke said as he ran alongside Lelouch. It was clear that the fight even was straining Xingke, a professional soldier, from the coughed up blood that Lelouch could see on his cheeks, but Xingke didn't let up his pace. "It's main gun is for siege and artillery use. It can't track small, quickly moving targets effectively. As long as you stay out of its firing arc, you won't have to worry about that one. It's the thirteen smaller guns, especially its point defense and antipersonnel cannons, that you'll have to look out for."

"Everyone, you heard him! Destroy those guns first! Bishop, Land! Help coordinate the attack and keep an eye out for weak spots in the superstructure."

As he ran forward, Lelouch changed his Persona to Girimehkala. He briefly cast Marakunda, to weaken the defenses of the Emperor's Tomb for his teammates, but then, in a move that anyone else would have considered suicidally overconfident, he purposefully stopped moving, allowing the main gun to track him.

"Zero, what are you doing?" Xingke shouted back. "Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"Keep going, I have a plan!" Lelouch called.

"You've led us well so far, but hope you know what you're doing this time, Zero," Xingke said darkly.

"Are you tired of running?" Mammon's voice echoed out of the Emperor's Tomb. "Or maybe you're admitting defeat? How very considerate of you! Just give me a moment, and it will all be over!"

The main gun fired on him. In spite of the shell being of a vastly greater caliber than the small arms fire that Shiki-Ouji had blocked in the past for him, the barrier held, causing the shell to reverse direction just before reaching him and rebounding on the cannon that had fired it. Everything in the Metaverse was based on Cognition, and Girimehkala's defense against anything that could be considered a projectile was absolute, even if it was an incoming artillery shell. Its size didn't matter at all.

There was an enormous explosion as the shell crashed into the Emperor's Tomb, disabling the main gun and opening a gaping hole in its side.

His teammates seemed as shocked as Mammon.

"Don't let up the attack!" Lelouch ordered. "Disable the rest of the guns so we can pull him out of there and take his Treasure!"

Mammon kept fighting, but it really was all but over. The two teams of phantom thieves fought with a second wind, seeing that the Emperor's Tomb was no longer as impregnable as it had first seemed.

Closing in on the Emperor's Tomb, Lelouch summoned Girimehkala again, who carried out a series of swift strikes on the nearest guns, critically damaging several of them. His teammates were similarly making progress. He watched as one of the medium guns on the flanks exploded under fire from Guren Jigoku and Medea, while Shirley used Maid Marian to snipe one of the point defense cannons from a safe distance as it tried to track Guren Jigoku's dizzying flight path. Meanwhile, Alice darted back and forth with inhuman speed, dodging machine gun fire from one of the anti-personnel cannons before summoning Bradamante to destroy it. Xingke was doing his part too, using his knowledge of a Longdan's construction to call down targeted lightning strikes, surgically disabling the Tomb's key systems with a minimum of wasted effort.

Unable to withstand the onslaught, the already compromised systems of the Emperor's Tomb finally failed, and it completely broke apart, dispersing into harmless black wisps. All that remained was Mammon, fallen from his litter and sprawled on the ground.

"You and the other High Eunuchs are finished," Xingke said, pointing his sword at Mammon, making sure that he couldn't rise without meeting a swift end.

"No," Mammon said, a smile on his face as his looked up into the sky. "You're too late. Prince Schneizel is here. I'm saved!"

Stray fire from the Emperor's Tomb had caused parts of the ceiling to cave in, and through the hole left behind, they could see Schneizel's airship hovering above them, looking just as it had on Kamine Island. Schneizel, or rather Cognitive Schneizel, had already appeared in the throne room, and was walking toward them. If viewed from a logical standpoint, it made no sense that Cognitive Schneizel could have safely disembarked from such a height, but they were in the Metaverse. Cognitive Schneizel was here because the Palace's ruler wanted him to be here.

"Saved? In what sense do you mean that?" Cognitive Schneizel smiled. "Do you simply mean escaping with your life? If so, that may indeed be the case, if the Black Knights and Irregulars feel so inclined."

Mammon blinked, as if he hadn't understood a word that Cognitive Schneizel had just said. "What do you mean?"

Cognitive Schneizel shook his head and chuckled lightly. "For one who thinks he's so much smarter than his peers among the High Eunuchs, you're rather slow, Gao Hai. I suppose I will have to do my best to explain it to you in terms that you can understand. Britannia admires strength above all else. Yet here you are, sprawled at their mercy. What would I, or Britannia, have to gain by saving you now?"

"I'll give you anything!" Mammon cried. "The Chinese Federation, it's land, it's people, even my own fortunes... you can have it all! Just take me from these criminals!"

"I'm afraid you still don't understand the situation you're in," Cognitive Schneizel said. "As soon as the Black Knights steal your heart, you will have none of those things, and the people will rise up against you. The so-called Enlightenment philosophers weren't wrong when they said that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed, even if they did believe in the potential of ordinary people too much. Whether that is overt approval or silent apathy makes little difference, as long as the government has that consent. But when you lose it..." Cognitive Schneizel shook his head again. "You simply become a liability."

"No! You're wrong! I can still make myself useful to Britannia! Please! Give me another chance!"

"Rest assured, Britannia will be there to pick up the pieces when the Chinese Federation crumbles."

Mammon was reduced to incoherent blubbering.

"You really are too emotional about all of this," Cognitive Schneizel said, calm as ever. "Surely none of the consequences of your defeat are a surprise to you."

Cognitive Schneizel looked up. "I must offer you my congratulations, Black Knights and Irregulars. You have exceeded my every expectation, for mere thieves to topple one of Britannia's principal rivals. That is not easily done." He clapped politely, but to Lelouch it seemed more mocking than anything else.

"You're not even the real Schneizel!" he shouted at his half-brother's doppelgänger. The thought that he may have played into Schneizel's hands, potentially offering up a weakened Chinese Federation for Britannia to conquer, infuriated him, obvious as it was now, and so he took his frustration out on the Cognition. "If you were the real Schneizel, you'd know exactly who I really am. But Gao Hai doesn't, and so neither do you!"

"That is true," Cognitive Schneizel replied, unperturbed. "I don't know who you are, and my own existence will soon fade along with that of this Palace. But in any case, you are a most remarkable individual. I'm sure that my real self will welcome the opportunity to match wits with you."

Cognitive Schneizel turned to go. "Until that day... Zero..."

The Cognition disappeared as if it had been just a dream, which in a sense, it had.

"Ow! Please have mercy!" Mammon, or rather, Shadow Gao Hai suddenly cried. Kallen had roughly kicked him, which was apparently enough to extinguish what little fight remained in him.

"No," Xingke replied coldly. "Mercy would be to end you right now. You will atone for your crimes - every last one of them! And you will expose those of your fellow High Eunuchs as well!"

"I'll die... either I'll be killed like the old Viceroy, or you'll kill me as soon as I've confessed."

"Yes, you will die one way or the other," Xingke said, glaring at him. "If you're particularly unlucky, it will be at the hands of the ordinary people of the Chinese Federation. My blade is much swifter and cleaner than you deserve. But cowards like you don't get to choose your deaths. I doubt you even have the courage to take your own life."

"Fine! You win!" Shadow Gao Hai moaned. "Take my Treasure!" Be looked up at them, a spiteful look suddenly in his eyes. "But remember... as Schneizel said, the Chinese Federation will crumble without us! And he'll be there to pick up the pieces! The Empress is but a young girl, who will be lost without her trusted advisors. What can she possibly do to hold the Chinese Federation together?"

"She'll have you, Dragon," Lelouch said. "You're the man your country needs to lead them into the future." Now, more than ever, the Chinese Federation, needed Xingke's strength and determination if it was going to hold back Schneizel and Britannia.

"I can only hope that you're right, Zero," Xingke said. "In truth, I only ever met the Empress once, years ago, when she spared my life for the crime of bringing medicine to a prisoner. I doubt that she even remembers me by now. But still, I must do whatever I can for her. I am forever in her debt."

"If you don't mind, I will be taking my leave now, and returning to my real self," Shadow Gao Hai said. "I hope you're happy with what you've done here today, Xingke."

With that, the Shadow vanished into light.

Lelouch walked over to the High Eunuch's throne, which had been knocked over during the fighting, and picked up the materialized Treasure that rested beside it. It appeared to be a small, very ordinary-looking jar, but it carried the weight of a Treasure. Lelouch could sense the distortion emanating from it.

His curiosity getting the better of it, he peaked inside.

"What is it, Zero?" Nunnally asked.

Lelouch blanched as he saw the shriveled object inside.

"You do not want to know," he told her.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps on the far side of the throne room. A group of several masked strangers walked in.

"Why, it appears that we've missed the party," a rosy-haired woman wearing an emerald-green mask and an elaborate black dress with gold trim and a short but similarly ornate hat, both of which had red stones set into them. In the case of the hat, the ruby gemstone in its center created the impression of a cyclopean eye. A black cape, lined with red, flowed behind her as she waked toward them. Overall, the outfit gave the impression of either an empress, or perhaps moreso, a wicked, vain, and beautiful witch.

"And I was so looking forward to giving that creep a little fire from Elphaba," the woman, who could only be Marrybell mel Britannia, continued. "But some other thieves have gone ahead and stolen his Treasure already, Oz."

"Indeed, West," Oldrin Zevon replied, dressed as a matador, much as she had been at the masquerade ball. "These must be the Black Knights. I was wondering why we faced so little resistance on the way here. They've clearly been busy. The place looks like a war zone."

"I'm sure we'd all love to chat," Marrybell said pleasantly, while managing to sound quite wicked, "but there's no time. As you must know, since you've taken that Treasure from the Palace's ruler, this entire place will start to collapse at any moment now. I do honestly hope that you all survive. We'd have much to talk about."

She started to turn, but Lelouch suddenly called out to her.

"Wait!"

"Weren't you listening to a word I said?" Marrybell asked incredulously. "The Palace-"

"I'm not an idiot," Lelouch told her. "I know!" He smirked. "But it's not every day that one meets the leader of the Glinda Knights, Marrybell mel Britannia."

Oldrin's hand immediately went to the sword at her side, but Marrybell slightly raised her own, signaling for her Knight to stand down.

"It's been far too long," Lelouch continued. "Even if we did meet again just a few days ago."

"You..." Marrybell whispered. "You're... No... you can't be!"

Lelouch pressed a card into Marrybell's hands. On one side, it appeared identical to the calling card that they had sent to Gao Hai, emblazoned with the stylish logo of the Black Knights, but the message on the other side was markedly different. It simply listed login credentials for a special account on KnightWatch.

"Let's save the reunion for another time," he told her. "As you said, the Palace will start collapsing at any moment now."

As if on cue, the rumbling started.

"Glinda Knights, retreat!" Marrybell ordered without sparing him another glance, though she held onto the card that he had given her tightly.

Lelouch knew it was time for the Black Knights and Irregulars to do the same, and so they hurried out of the throne room, hot on the Glinda Knights' trail as the Forbidden City of Greed began to fall apart around them.

 **A/N:**

 **And Gao Hai's heart has been stolen! I was able to write and revise this chapter quite quickly, probably because I had so been looking forward to the battle against Gao Hai for such a long time.**

 **Very obviously to anyone who's played Persona 5, the battle was inspired as a cross between Okumura and Shido's boss fights. Okumura's in the sense that Mammon himself is a complete wimp and has a very underwhelming transformation, instead relying on waves of mooks to fight the thieves. And of course, the later stages of the fight deliberately parallel the Beast of Human Sacrifice, Wings of Human Sacrifice, and Tomb of Human Sacrifice from Shido's boss battle. That's actually something I had planned since the start of the story. Like Shido, Gao Hai is a political leader, with ambitions over an entire country. Also, "Shen Hu" does literally mean "Divine Tiger" which serves as a counterpoint to the lion-inspired "Beast of Human Sacrifice", and was the canonical name of the Knightmare Frame that the High Eunuchs gave Xingke in canon, again exploiting his desire to protect and take back the Empress. That the Chinese Federation had the Longdan mobile fortresses, with the same pyramidal shape as the Tomb of Human Sacrifice was just icing on the cake.**

 **The chapter title, "The Bosses of Greed and Fear" is taken as an excerpt from a line in "Rivers in the Desert", the boss theme against late-game antagonists and optional superbosses in Persona 5, which also played during Shido's fight. It seemed to aptly describe the High Eunuchs, and the fact that the Black Knights had to defeat several powerful foes in a row to steal Gao Hai's heart.**

 **In canon, Xingke used very similar tactics to Lelouch when they went against each other. While Xingke is brilliant in his own right, some of this is likely attributable to him having been able to study Lelouch's tactics during the Black Rebellion a year before and incorporate such unconventional strategies into his own, hence his reaction to the golden avalanche in this story.**

 **Lelouch's joint attack with Shirley against the Divine Tiger is inspired by Joker and Kasumi's Showtime in Persona 5 Royal. Since Lelouch and Shirley's thief outfits are based on Joker and Kasumi's, it seemed a waste not to find a way to include their Showtime together, albeit in a way so that it's actually happening in-story and not simply a stylized cutscene for a special attack.**

 **There are a few more loose ends to tie up in this arc before the next interrogation interlude, but very soon we'll be moving onto the sixth palace! Thanks for reading, everyone!**


	60. The Knight

The Forbidden City of Greed was far larger than the Palaces that had come before it, but like most Palaces, its destruction radiated out from from its core. It reminded Lelouch of something that he had heard once in his physics class. Before he awoke to his Persona he didn't usually pay much attention in class, but the reactions of several of his classmates upon hearing it had been enough to make him clearly recall the example. If the sun were to suddenly collapse and stop shining, it would take eight minutes for anyone on Earth to even realize that the sun was gone, because it would take that long for the last light emitted by the sun before its destruction to reach Earth. Likewise, those areas of the Palace most distant from the Treasure would be the last to feel its removal since they were still receiving the last waves of the Distortion that it had emitted.

Unlike that scenario, the Palace's collapse propagated outward at a speed far less than that of light, though to his chagrin, Lelouch couldn't say exactly how fast it was. As much as he hated such imprecision in his plans, he had no opportunities to study the phenomenon. Whenever it occurred, the Black Knights, and now the Irregulars, were far too busy running for their lives, pursued by an advancing wall of destruction.

The Glinda Knights were still ahead of them, or so he had to assume. Somehow, Marrybell's band of Persona-users had given them the slip, and were now nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they had their own infiltration route, but Lelouch couldn't waste time searching for them. Besides, he doubted that Marrybell, who had demonstrated a keen tactical acumen in their chess matches, and who must have already destroyed at least two Palaces back in Pendragon, would be so careless to let herself get caught in the collapse. With any luck, she'd be contacting him on KnightWatch before the night was over.

Lelouch could see the literal light at the end of the tunnel; Gao Hai's secret escape route out of the Palace had proved invaluable when precious seconds could make the difference between life and death. If he had been back in the real world, his legs would have almost certainly given out long ago, even with Sayoko's training, but empowered by his Persona, he continued to dash forward. Putting on a last burst of speed, he left the tunnel and the ruins of the Forbidden City of Greed behind him.

xXx

The Black Knights and Irregulars materialized back in the alleyway near the Consulate, exactly where they had entered the Metaverse. A quick check of the MetNav would confirm that the Palace had-

"Princess Euphemia!" an all-too familiar voice called out. "And... Lelouch!" the voice gasped.

Everyone turned around to see the source of the voice, but Lelouch already knew who it was: Suzaku Kururugi.

Damn! Ever since he had found out that Suzaku was a Persona-user, Lelouch had recognized that there as a chance that his old friend would discover him in the Metaverse. But he hadn't expected to be caught like this again. It could have been ruinous for the Black Knights when Shirley had discovered them leaving the Metaverse. Even though she hadn't turned them in, that knowledge had been the final straw leading to the formation of her Palace, and had ultimately necessitated rescuing her from Medjed and her Shadow. But for Suzaku to now be the one to catch them... It was just too soon!

"Not just you, Lelouch," Suzaku frowned. "Almost all of the Student Council is here... and Nunnally too. Then again, she is an honorary member of the Student Council..."

"Suzaku, there's an explanation for all of this!" Lelouch started frantically.

"I know there is," Suzaku replied, not buying any of it. "I just saw all of you emerge from thin air... or should I say, the Metaverse?"

Was that why Suzaku had let Euphy go, so that he could follow her and discover the identities of the Black Knights without dirtying his own hands? Still, no matter how obvious it must be to Suzaku, Lelouch refused to say anything that would confirm the knight's suspicions beyond all doubts. In this moment, he couldn't assume that Suzaku was the same friend that he had always known, lest he...

Lelouch noticed Kallen tensing next to him, prepared to attack Suzaku should he make any sudden moves, or should her leader order her to do so. The others on the Student Council didn't seem as eager to fight, but they regarded Suzaku warily. The dismayed, flustered look on Shirley's face couldn't be seen as anything but an admission of guilt. Then again, his own panicked reaction had probably been worse.

The Irregulars were far less restrained in the hostility that they showed Suzaku. They didn't have to reconcile feelings of friendship toward Suzaku with the threat that he now posed to them, and Lelouch knew that they would kill to protect each other. Alice seemed particularly ready to fight, and it was likely only Nunnally's hesitation that held her back.

As for Xingke, his hand had immediately gone to his sword, though it was not yet drawn, ready to cut Suzaku down should he say or do anything that might threaten the Empress. That being said, Xingke was also a professional, and had not survived working under Gao Hai by being incautious. Even now, Xingke was appraising Suzaku, and waiting for him to make the first move.

Suzaku held up his hands, but kept his eyes fixed on Lelouch. "I don't want to fight you, Nunnally, or the others." He sighed. "Even if I did, I'm not so naive to believe that I could take all of you on at once." Suzaku shook his head. "We've both been lying to each other for all of this time."

"You were lying to us first," Lelouch thought bitterly. "To all of the members of the Student Council."

But Lelouch knew that, had his friends not stumbled across the Metaverse, he would still be lying to all of them about what he was doing after school. Milly had gotten pulled in with them purely by accident, and if not for that she may have never become a Black Knight. He had kept on lying about it, to both Shirley and his own sister, for months. But they both became Persona-users, and even Nina had ended up as one of their targets and then one of their collaborators. Of the Student Council's original members as of the start of that year, only Rivalz was still in the dark. But in any case, it would be useless to argue with Suzaku right now about which of them was more of a hypocrite.

"Let's talk, Lelouch," Suzaku said slowly. "I know a place where we won't be overheard. Do you know about Mementos?"

What was Suzaku playing at? Shirley had reported that Suzaku's Persona was at least as powerful as Kallen's, and he had managed to drive off the Black Mask, or at least pressure the assassin into making a tactical withdrawal, but he doubted that Suzaku would be so foolish to try to fight them in Mementos. After all, the Black Knights and Irregulars outnumbered him thirteen to one.

But what if the whole thing was another sort of trap? If they met with Suzaku and then let him go, he could turn them in at any time. In any case, the whole situation stank of Schneizel's work. The Second Prince was still Suzaku's direct superior. It would be all to easy for Schneizel to orchestrate the situation that they now found themselves in, if he suspected that Euphy might be a Black Knight. Schneizel wouldn't even necessarily have to order Suzaku to follow Euphy. The Second Prince was a master at reading people and anticipating their actions, making them dance to his tune without even realizing it.

Whether or not Suzaku was knowingly here according to Schneizel's plans, they would have to go underground! Not just with Nunnally and Sayoko, per the contingency plans that he long maintained for such a desperate occasion, but for the other Black Knights as well. They would be in just as much danger, and he couldn't leave them behind after all they had been through together. But wait... then there were the other Irregulars! Nunnally wouldn't willingly abandon them either! What would they-

"Lelouch," a gentle voice said on the side opposite of Kallen. Euphy was there, her blue-violet eyes earnestly pleading with him. "Shouldn't we at least listen to what he has to say? I don't think he means us harm. Wasn't he your best friend before the war?"

Lelouch looked at Euphemia incredulously for a moment. She may have become a Black Knight, and even consented to stealing Gao Hai's heart in the end, but was she still so idealistic, so naive not to see the threat that Suzaku now posed to them?

Yet cynical as he was, Euphy always had a way of appealing to the softer side of his nature, and Lelouch quickly felt cracks forming in his resistance to the idea. A part of him truly did want to accept Suzaku's offer to talk, in spite of the risks. Hardheaded as Suzaku could be, just maybe there was a chance that his first real friend could come around to his way of thinking. The very few members of the royal family that he actually liked didn't count.

In any case, Euphy certainly thought that it was possible, and if Suzaku were to join them, Lelouch was sure that there would be nothing that the Black Knights could not accomplish. But-

"Euphy's right, big brother," Nunnally said, her eyes firmly meeting his own. "Suzaku's safeguarded the secret of our lineage ever since he came to Ashford Academy. He could have turned us in at any time, but he didn't. I know this isn't quite the same thing, but can't we trust him one more time? Besides," she added sweetly, "by letting Euphy join us, hasn't he already made his choice?"

First Euphemia, and now his little sister? Together, that was practically cheating! But he was also surprised by just how devious Nunnally was. Without saying what they they had been doing in the Metaverse, or carrying any malice or hostility in her voice, she had just subtly threatened Suzaku with the consequences of his actions.

The Black Knights were traitors to Britannia, and the Irregulars were fugitives from an illegal program that Britannia had officially disavowed, even while surreptitiously continuing its research into Cognitive Psience. By letting Euphemia join them to steal Gao Hai's heart, he had made himself an accessory to the Black Knights' crimes. It would be extremely difficult for Suzaku to turn them in without being forced to admit his own complicity in compromising Britannia's most important diplomatic deal in history.

Moreover, Cornelia's wrath would be terrible to behold if she were to learn that Suzaku had only discovered the Black Knights' identities because he had abrogated his own duty to protect her beloved little sister. After all, Suzaku had not only knowingly allowed Euphemia to enter a situation where her life would be in mortal danger, he had actively aided her in doing so.

In other words, Suzaku's future held either disgrace and probable execution for the crimes he had already committed against Britannia, or further collaboration with the Black Knights, until whatever Britannia might do to him was rendered irrelevant. Even if Suzaku were to walk away right now, and never did anything to assist the Black Knights again, Britannia would not forgive him if they had discovered what he had done. If the order came from the Emperor himself, not even Schneizel would be able to protect Suzaku. And whether he was caught or not, Suzaku would always have to live with the knowledge that he had compromised his supposed principles by letting Euphemia go.

Suzaku stiffened as he heard Nunnally's words. He knew that she was right.

"You know, Lelouch, you're a bad influence on Nunnally sometimes," Suzaku sighed.

Glancing around to gauge the other Black Knight's opinions, Lelouch saw Shirley nodding. After a moment's consideration, Leila joined her. While countless people trying to take advantage of her after her parents' deaths should have left Leila as an embittered cynic, she clearly retained a degree of idealism, such that she wanted to believe in the best in people. Perhaps that was another way in which she was a "romantic", and a kindred spirit to Shirley. But Leila's idealism was still tempered by pragmatism, and Lelouch knew that she would not carelessly advise him to speak to Suzaku.

Slowly, Lelouch nodded. "Very well, Suzaku. We'll hear you out. If nothing else, it's the least I can do, for old times' sake."

xXx

They arrived at the uppermost floor of Mementos without incident. Suzaku was surprised to see Nunnally walking on her own two legs, and for her hair to immediately change its color to blonde, but he quickly recovered.

"I'd start by saying that I've never approved of the Black Knights' methods," Suzaku began. He was now in his own Metaverse attire, and just as Shirley had reported, the outfit very closely resembled the dress uniform that he had worn while serving as the Knight assigned to Princess Euphemia at the masquerade. Suzaku wore a white vest, trimmed in gold, over a light violet undershirt, and had black military boots that contrasted the white of his dress pants. But most striking of all was his mask, shaped like the face of the mythological Vermillion Bird that was his namesake.

"But you already know that," Suzaku continued. "What I will say instead is that I've suspected you were part of the Black Knights for a long time, Lelouch. That your clothing has changed as well proves at the very least that you and the others are all Persona-users. That Nunnally is able to walk at all here is only further proof in her case. Only the powerful Cognition of a Persona-user would allow her to regain the use of her legs in this world. I know for one that I'm capable of far more here in the Metaverse than I am in the real world."

Indeed, confirming that they were all Persona-users was inevitable, given that they were meeting in Mementos, but Suzaku had guessed as much anyway. "For how long have you suspected us?" Lelouch asked warily.

"Ever since you stole Coach Nu's heart," Suzaku replied. "You certainly had the motive to do so, and I see now that you had the means as well. Why else do you think that Rolo has taken such an interest in you? Everyone knows that the Black Knights' first change of heart occurred at Ashford Academy, and naturally he considers the members of the Student Council to be the prime suspects in his investigation."

Lelouch nodded. "That's a reasonable deduction. I had surmised that was why they sent a detective to Ashford as well."

Suzaku frowned. "Everyone knew that you didn't like Coach Nu, Lelouch. Not only did she force you to do laps, heaven forbid, but she abused Shirley, tried to have Kallen and myself expelled, and I'd suppose she was blackmailing the Headmaster as well." He sighed. "I can understand why you did it, Lelouch, but given all of that, how could I not suspect you?"

"But you didn't tell anyone," Lelouch pressed.

"I didn't have proof back then," Suzaku replied. "In any case, I thought I could persuade you to turn away from that path."

"You could have taken care of Coach Nu yourself, you know," Lelouch said. "I'm guessing you've been a Persona-user at least since you came to Ashford Academy. Somehow, you awakened to your power, and Prince Schneizel, or some other noble working under him, took notice, and arranged for your transfer. If you had, then there may never have been any Black Knights. So why didn't you?"

"Besides the fact that I don't approve of brainwashing people? I simply didn't know back then one _could_ change someone's heart through the Metaverse." He turned to Euphemia. "Princess Euphemia, do you remember when we first met?"

Euphemia looked slightly uncomfortable at being addressed by her real name in the Metaverse, as it was a breach of the rules that the Black Knights had established among themselves. But Suzaku couldn't be faulted for not knowing their codenames. Only "Zero" was public knowledge, and Lelouch could already see that Euphy wasn't going hold it against Suzaku.

"Yes," she said softly. "You caught me when I was sneaking out of the Government Bureau, but instead of taking me back, you offered to be my guide around the city. And you said... that you worked in a special research division reporting to Prince Schneizel. That division was researching Cognitive Psience, wasn't it?"

Suzaku nodded. "Prince Schneizel had become aware of the existence of the Metaverse, and wanted to be able to study it, but he had no means of entering it himself. I was recruited to explore the Metaverse, report back on my findings to him, and to protect him - and other members of the Royal Family - from those who might use the Metaverse as a weapon. Even back then, Prince Schneizel suspected that the mental shutdowns were connected to the Metaverse. But there was so much that we didn't know. I was basically going in there blind."

"That's so dangerous!" Shirley gasped.

"I know that we've been putting ourselves into danger by coming here," Nunnally frowned, "but to do so by yourself... that's..."

Her words trailed off, but Lelouch knew exactly what his little sister meant to say. "Suicidal."

Suzaku shook his head. "Maybe so, but there I was, an Honorary Britannian, being given a chance to work within the system and actually make a difference. That doesn't come by every-"

"You think Britannia is actually going to let you change anything?!" Kallen snapped. "People like you make me sick! Not only have you thrown away your pride as a Japanese, but you're helping those who have occupied our homeland, turned it into 'Area 11', and oppressed our people! And when it's all done, they'll just throw you away, like another 'Eleven'. Don't think for a moment that they consider you to be a Britannian, Knight or not!"

Suzaku was taken aback. "Kallen! You... You're not at all like this at school!"

"I'm a lot of things, but weak, meek 'Kallen Stadtfeld' certainly isn't going into the Metaverse in her condition, and you know it. So why should I bother keeping up the pretense? This is who I really am, like it or not!"

"I can see that," Suzaku frowned. "But tell me this, Kallen, Lelouch,... any of you on the Student Council... You're really okay with using the Metaverse to control people? I mean, that's what it is... I called it brainwashing earlier, but that's not really accurate, is it? Brainwashing implies that you gradually break the subject down so that you can make them accept new beliefs. But there's nothing gradual about a change of heart. It's more like outright mind control!"

Kallen looked like she wanted to rip into Suzaku again, but Lelouch raised a hand, signaling that she should let Suzaku speak. As for Xingke, he hadn't said a word since they arrived in Mementos, but was listening intently.

Suzaku's voice softened. "Maybe you felt that you didn't have any other options for dealing with Coach Nu, or now Gao Hai." He hung his head. "You can almost justify it in some cases... I even helped you change Gao Hai's heart, if only indirectly, he was that bad. But where does it end? Where do you draw the line as to whose hearts you change? Do you just keep acting as judge and jury, completely unaccountable to anyone else? Or maybe the people will become so dependent on you always being there to change the hearts of other criminals that they'll stop trying to make things better on their own. Did you ever think of that?"

"I don't deny that the Black Knights use the Metaverse to manipulate their targets," Lelouch replied. "But mind control?" He laughed. "If they had such a power, Area 11's colonial government would have collapsed within a matter of weeks, with Britannia itself soon to follow. No, stealing someone's heart simply removes their corrupt desires, and their ability to rationalize away their past crimes with them. Getting them to confess may have been the goal, but none of them were in the end forced to do so. They chose to do so themselves, as their best way to atone for what they had done."

"A choice made under duress is hardly a choice at all!" Suzaku shot back.

"And Britannia doesn't use propaganda to brainwash people into following its Social Darwinist ideology? What about how it uses its military to instill fear throughout conquered nations through shows of force? Isn't that placing entire populations under duress, giving them the 'choice' to obey Britannia or to die? Which is the greater evil? And what would you prefer? That the Black Knights target a few individuals and change their hearts in the Metaverse, causing them no harm other than feeling much-deserved guilt for their crimes? Or that they use the Metaverse to murder their enemies? Or perhaps the Black Knights could lead a violent uprising in the real world, and put far more lives at risk?"

"You're going to cause one in the Chinese Federation, so don't you start trying to skirt responsibility for it, Lelouch!"

"Of course," Lelouch admitted. "That was the plan from the start. But we didn't put in motion anything that the people of the Chinese Federation weren't nearly ready to do themselves, after suffering for so long under the rule of the High Eunuchs." He nodded toward Xingke. "Dragon here was planning to overthrow them to restore authority to the Empress and bring relief to his people long before we ever appeared on the scene."

Under his mask, Xingke nodded slightly.

"I see that you're no longer trying to deny it, Lelouch," Suzaku said, remaining focused on him.

"What point would there be in doing so?" Lelouch replied. "We've seen each other's masks now." He glanced over his shoulder at Euphemia. "She says that I should try being honest with you. I'm willing to give that a try, if you do the same, Suzaku."

Suzaku sighed. "I knew it... But it wasn't just you..." He turned to Shirley. "I saw you in the Palace while I was rescuing Princess Euphemia. I'd recognize that hair of yours anywhere, Shirley. I had worried that you had gotten yourself involved when you disappeared right around the time that Medjed challenged the Black Knights. But when I saw both you and Princess Euphemia dressed in clothes like those out of some tokusatsu show, I knew then that the two of you were Persona-users, and almost certainly part of the Black Knights as well."

"Tokusatsu?" Shirley asked in confusion.

"You wouldn't be familiar with the term," Kallen said. "Think of superhero cartoons, but live-action. They had lots of special effects, and over-the-top costumes. Often, the heroes would need to transform to use their powers, changing their clothes in the process, just like how we do we we come into the Metaverse. They'd usually have some catchphrase they'd shout while doing so. 'Henshin!' was a common one. It means 'transform'. Though really, it was a way for them to mask the stuntmen in the action scenes. I watched them from time to time myself." She scowled, and cast an accusatory glare toward Suzaku. "But of course, Britannia banned them along with most other forms of Japanese culture."

Suzaku wisely chose not to respond to Kallen, as he was more likely to anger her by doing so than anything else. Instead, he continued speaking to Shirley.

"Even knowing that you had somehow gotten mixed up in that business with Medjed, I had a hard time believing that it was really you at first, Shirley. I had thought that with what happened to your father-"

"They didn't kill my father!" Shirley said quickly. "The Black Mask- I mean, the guy who kidnapped her!" she continued, pointing at Euphemia. "He's the one who murdered him! You don't still think that the Black Knights are responsible, do you, Suzaku?"

Suzaku shook his head. "I once did, Shirley, but not anymore. I saw how much your father's death hurt you. But then I realized that you'd never willingly work with the Black Knights if you believed that they had really been his murderers."

Shirley shifted uncomfortably. Lelouch knew why. He remembered Shadow Shirley's words. "As devastated as I was by my father's death, it doesn't matter if I can have you." She would have helped him even if he was her father's murderer. No, she _had_ done so, attempting to murder her own Shadow to protect him, even before she accepted the truth that someone else had killed her father. Had Shirley not been able to come to terms with that side of herself, her guilt would have destroyed her. But Suzaku didn't need to know that, not now.

"Still," Suzaku continued, not seeming to notice her discomfort, "you're one of the last members of the Student Council who I would have expected to become a Black Knight. You're really on board with everything that they've been doing? Even causing an uprising in the Chinese Federation? You never wanted to hurt anyone, Shirley."

"I still don't," Shirley replied softly, casting her eyes down. "But this was the only way that we could help all of those people."

"It really is the most humane way we could go about it, Suzaku," Lelouch cut in. "Think about it. When Gao Hai confesses to so flagrantly selling out the people of the Chinese Federation and all of his other crimes, I wouldn't be surprised if a good chunk of the High Eunuch's military forces defect. Most of them are ordinary people too, and will be none too happy with him and the other High Eunuchs. Yes, some will remain loyal to the High Eunuchs, but the death toll among civilians in the ensuing revolution will be far lower than it otherwise would be."

Suzaku scowled. "As always, it's just about the results for you, Lelouch. You're talking about people's lives there!"

"Ideals mean little if you throw your life away uselessly chasing them," Lelouch smirked. "So why shouldn't I put the results first and foremost? To act otherwise is the height of naïveté. But don't think that I'm completely heartless, Suzaku. Do you think that Shirley, Nunnally, Euphemia and the others would simply stand by me and let me commit atrocities?" He laughed.

"That's not something you should joke about, Lelouch!"

"I mean it though," Lelouch said reflectively. "I may be a demon, but they can still appeal to the better angels of my nature. If I didn't have them at my side... I would have lost my way long ago."

He meant it.

"Lelouch..." Suzaku murmured. "You've changed. When you first came to Kururugi Shrine... you didn't trust anyone besides your sister. We didn't even like each other at first. Even at Ashford Academy, I saw that you had made friends, but you never opened up with your secrets to anyone else there but Milly, and that was only because she already knew. But now... they're your partners in crime..." He frowned. "Both figuratively and literally..."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Kallen cut in. "Turn us in to your Britannian masters? As if we'll-"

"Suzaku..." Nunnally said imploringly, staring into his green eyes with her beautiful violet ones. "Are you really going to turn us in? After everything we've been through..." She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. "I know you're better than that, Suzaku."

Lelouch glanced down at his sister. Nunnally continued to astonish him with just how manipulative she really was. There of course had been hints of it, such as how Nunnally used to make herself sick when she wanted more attention from him, and he had come to accept that Nunnally was far more independent than he had once given her credit for. But it was startling to see how easily Nunnally could conjure up the image of innocence, even as she was wearing the outfit that symbolized her rebellion. And that was just on the surface. Nunnally herself was in control at the moment, as her violet eyes attested, but underneath lurked Nemo, her Shadow, a bloodthirsty sadist where her enemies were concerned.

In that moment, Lelouch realized that Nunnally could be just as much of a consummate liar as he was, perhaps even more so because of how vulnerable she outwardly appeared to be. Still, Suzaku wasn't quite so credulous that he'd just fall for Nunnally's best puppy dog eyes, would he?

But it wasn't just Nunnally. Euphy followed up on her previous maneuver, tag teaming with his little sister to get her way. Even now, she was leaning in slightly toward Suzaku, and asking him why he agreed to become a Knight in the first place. But Lelouch knew that Euphy's tactic had only worked on him because he had a soft spot for her, a fact that she was also well aware of. For her to use such a tactic on Suzaku...

Did that mean that Euphy thought Suzaku had a soft spot for her as well, one that she could exploit?

No, that wasn't Euphy's style. She had become a liar by necessity to conceal her activities as a member of the Black Knights from Cornelia and Schneizel, but Lelouch knew lying and manipulating others didn't come as naturally to Euphy as it did to him, or apparently Nunnally for that matter.

Euphy was no stranger to political games. Cornelia may have tried to shelter her younger sister as best she could, but Euphy had still grown up around the Imperial Court at Pendragon, and even now she handled the day to day niceties of managing the domestic affairs of Area 11 that Cornelia couldn't be bothered with. That required a certain amount of decorum, even as she was forced to deal with people who would use all manners of half-truths and flattery to advance their own special interests within the Area. And as the most visible public face of the colonial administration, Euphy was expected to attend countless functions, avoid straying too far from current Imperial policy, and smile for the masses. She had to constantly wear the mask of the Sub-Viceroy. But in spite of that, Euphy all too often wore her heart on her sleeve, letting her her true self shine through.

Yet that was Euphy's greatest weapon, wasn't it? Lies were the norm in Britannia, whether it was at the Imperial Court, or simply in one's daily life, walking around the Tokyo Settlement. To be confronted with honesty was disarming. Paired with Euphy's personality, charming in its warmth and vitality, and her beauty, which would naturally captivate hearts without any intention on her part, it was a combination that was hard to resist.

Of course, if Euphy really was being straightforward with Suzaku... that would mean that she really was interested in what he had to say. No, it was more than that. If Suzaku had developed a soft spot for Euphy... then had she developed one for Suzaku as well?

Once, Lelouch would have seen Suzaku as a good match for his most cherished sisters, be that Nunnally or Euphy, someone whom he could count upon to protect them. He could see why Euphy might be drawn to Suzaku, especially after he had helped save her life. But who could tell exactly where Suzaku's loyalties lay now? Any relationship between them would be fraught with peril, especially if it were to compromise her judgment. Perhaps it already had.

"I wanted to be able to help people," he heard Suzaku reply, bringing his mind back to the moment.

Kallen looked like to was ready to scoff at that, but Euphemia ignored her.

"I need your help, Suzaku," Euphemia said earnestly. "The first time that we met, I told you that bad guys were chasing me," she said, casting her eyes downward. "But now, there really is someone after me." She shook her head. "No, it's not just me, Suzaku." She raised her head and firmly made eye contact with him again. "I agree with Shirley... the same man who kidnapped me, the Black Mask is almost certainly the same man who killed her father. And you couldn't have known this, Suzaku, but the Black Mask tried to kill Nunnally and her friends, deeper down in Mementos." Euphemia frowned. "When I think of how close we all came to losing her, I-"

Euphemia choked up, and Lelouch knew for certain now it wasn't an act.

Nunnally nodded grimly, now completely serious herself. "We were no match for his power," she murmured. "We were lucky to escape at all, let alone all alive."

"Now that you mention it," Suzaku said, "I recognize your friend, Alice, but I don't think I've seen the other girls with you before, Nunnally."

"You've got a problem with that?" Dalque piped up, only for Sancia to sternly grasp her by the shoulder.

Lucretia glanced at Nunnally, clearly seeking permission to speak. Nunnally nodded in affirmation.

"The four of us... Are survivors... of Prince Clovis's secret project... Code-R," Lucretia whispered. "Please... don't ask what they did to us there... It's too horrible..."

"And my father carried out all of those awful experiments on Britannia's orders..." Shirley began.

"Wait, your father worked on Code-R?!" Suzaku asked in shock.

To her credit, Shirley didn't shrink away from that truth. "He didn't just work on it," she said miserably. "He was one of its project leaders." She shook her head. "Nothing can excuse what my father or Prince Clovis did, but Britannia has been continuing that terrible research, Suzaku. You said it yourself... Prince Schneizel is pursuing the study of Cognitive Psience, and we think it might even go up to the Emperor! That's why they had to kill Prince Clovis and my father! They didn't want the truth of what they were doing getting out!" Her composure was breaking down now, sobs punctuating her words. "They'll try to kill you too, Suzaku, as soon as they think you're no longer useful to them!"

Lelouch reached out an arm around Shirley's back to calm her. He didn't know if Suzaku would read into it and infer that he was in a relationship with Shirley as well, or if he would simply assume that it was a comforting gesture between friends on the Student Council. But in any case, Lelouch didn't care what Suzaku thought of his love life right now. Being there for Shirley when she needed it was more important to him.

Feeling his touch, Shirley took several deep breaths. "My dad wasn't the good man that I thought he was, but he was still the best father that I could have asked for. He was always kind to me, and taught me to help others. Even if it means that we would have been on different sides had he lived, that's why I'm sure he'd understand. I can't let anyone else get hurt by his research, or by the man who killed him. We have to bring the Black Mask to justice!"

"Shirley, no one's saying that his killer shouldn't be brought to justice, but don't let yourself be blinded by vengeance," Suzaku said sadly. "You'll just be left dark regret and deep emptiness that has nowhere to go."

Shirley shook her head again. "I already know what that feels like, Suzaku. I was once was blinded by my need for revenge, and I was drowning in it. A part of me even tried to kill the person I love more than anything else when I thought that he was responsible for my father's death... I willfully turned my eyes from the truth. But not anymore! I joined the Black Knights so that I could grasp the truth with my own hands, and actually do something to make a difference in this world! And it's the only way I can ever do anything to atone for my father's sins."

"Shirley, you don't need to-" Suzaku interjected, taken aback by her outpouring of emotion. Lelouch also knew that while Suzaku may have found his relationship with Shirley ambiguous before, his old friend couldn't possibly miss the significance of her words now. Thankfully, Suzaku chose not to comment upon it for the time being.

"If I... if we don't, then who will?" Shirley asked. "The police will never catch the Black Mask on their own, not when he can just escape into the Metaverse as easily as he did at the consulate."

"As far as we can tell, the Black Mask doesn't leave any evidence behind in the real world to connect him to the murders he's committed in the Metaverse," Lelouch added. He frowned. "And since we compromised the consulate's security system for our own infiltration, the authorities don't have any surviving video evidence of when he kidnapped Princess Euphemia either, unless someone else happened to be recording the scene at the time."

"We had no way of knowing that he would show up," Leila said softly. "But it doesn't change the fact that the Black Mask can perpetrate crimes almost completely undetected. And I doubt that a few seconds of footage would have been enough to definitively identify him, especially when his face was concealed from the start."

Shirley nodded. "Only other Persona-users can stop him! That's why we could really use your help, Suzaku! I saw you fight! You're already just as strong as the strongest among us!"

"My Persona is powerful, Shirley, but really, that guy's Persona is in a class of its own. I wouldn't beat him in a one-on-one fight if it was just my Lancelot versus his... I think he called it Loki? It came down to my training, and more than a little luck."

Lelouch knew that Suzaku didn't simply mean military training. Back at the Kururugi Shrine, Suzaku had trained daily under Tohdoh, and he had plenty of raw, physical talent even before that.

Suzaku shook his head. "Besides, he couldn't go all out in his fight against me because he had to restrain Princess Euphemia. But I think he may have finally decided to cut his losses when he saw you, Shirley," Suzaku continued. "He probably assumed you were bringing backup with you, and that he was about to be surrounded by more Persona-users than he could deal with."

"He saw me?" Shirley gasped.

"I don't know for sure," Suzaku admitted. "But it's the best explanation that I can think of. If I did, there's no reason to assume that he didn't as well."

"Back to the point, that's even more reason for us to work together!" Euphemia cried. "You told me yourself that you wanted us to work together, and that you could achieve so much more if you had someone backing you up!"

"I didn't mean as part of the Black Knights."

"Then why else are you here?" Lelouch asked.

Suzaku didn't have an answer for them.

"If the Black Mask isn't stopped, he'll just kill more people. And there's no way that Britannia will ever agree to stop the research that Shirley's father was working on. They'll just push it out of the public eye, as they did when they had the Black Mask kill Clovis." He paused. "But it's not just the Black Mask either. There's another assassin using the Metaverse on the behalf of Britannia, one clad entirely in black armor. We encountered this 'Black Armor' underneath Ashford Academy, right after Medjed had kidnapped my little sister."

Suzaku stiffened.

"Black Armor doesn't seem to be working directly with the Black Mask, and he even let us go, but that doesn't mean we can count him as a friend. He made very clear that he's an executioner for Britannia. Yes, he offered some self-serving rationalization that he only kills the "truly guilty", but who is more guilty: Britannia, or those that the Black Knights have targeted?"

Not giving Suzaku a chance to interrupt, Lelouch laughed derisively. "You know why we targeted Villetta, Suzaku. Clovis' victims may not wish to speak about the horrors they endured at his hands, but just the glimpse we saw of them in his Palace was absolutely sickening. The Black King was among the worst of parasites. He was an insatiable predator without a shred of honor, who was nonetheless protected from the authorities by his money, which he used to buy off the police. And Medjed..." he snarled. "Medjed was nothing more than a delusional, rabid dog who had to be put down."

"You killed him?" Suzaku asked.

"I would have, but someone else did first," Lelouch replied, to which Alice nodded in agreement. "Medjed was an exception though. As a rule, the Black Knights do not kill unless we have no other options. That was one of the first and most important rules that we set for ourselves from the start."

"I see..." Suzaku murmured.

"And Gao Hai was so obviously corrupt that even you saw the need for his heart to be changed. But you still clung to an oath to serve Britannia, one that you had already betrayed, one that would keep chaining you down and preventing you from changing anything or helping anyone in a way that actually matters, while we did the dirty work, necessary as it was. Our means may not be just, Suzaku, and evil will always remain, no matter how many hearts the Black Knights change, but at least we admit to our own sins. And we are ready to face whatever consequences there may be for them. That is the path we have freely chosen for ourselves."

"Can you say the same, Suzaku?" Lelouch continued. "Is the law and doing things in the 'right' way so important to you that you would willingly remain a slave to Britannia? Or more to the point, are you willing to let the Black Mask do whatever he wants? As should be perfectly clear to you, there's no way that you'll be able to bring him to justice within the confines of the law."

Suzaku clenched a fist, his hands trembling.

"Join us, Suzaku," Lelouch said, outstretching his hand. "We've had our disagreements in the past, but truth be told, I couldn't care less about those. And while I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want your power, don't think that's the only reason why I want you to join us, or even the most important one. It's not. We're friends, Suzaku. We all are, all irreplaceable to each other. That's something more precious than anything else, and a power all on it own, far greater than the sum of its parts. If we stand as one, nothing, not even the gods themselves would be able to stop us, as we create a kinder and gentler world together!"

Suzaku stared at him, yet seemed to be at war with himself.

"Suzaku..." Euphemia whispered.

"Some people would say that you're absolutely insane right about now, Lelouch," Suzaku finally spoke up.

"Of course they would. When would a handful of teenagers, with a single professional soldier and a cat among them, taking on not just one, but two empires, ever be considered sane by most people?"

"I ag- wait, what was that last part?"

"Did you honestly not notice that I've been here the whole time?" Arthur asked.

"Wait, who said that?" Suzaku said, looking around.

"Down here!" Arthur replied impatiently.

Suzaku looked down. "Arthur? You can talk? And you're a Black Knight too?!"

"Obviously," Arthur replied. "You should see the look on your face, Suzaku! But yeah, I'm a Black Knight, and I was the first out of any of them to have a Persona. Though it wasn't really the Black Knights until he came along," he said, glancing up at Lelouch. "But that's another long story."

"In any case," Lelouch continued, "We've already done what most would consider impossible... and as you know, the Metaverse doesn't work according to the same rules as reality, so standard definitions of what's insane or not don't quite hold up here, Suzaku. Do you disagree?"

Suzaku sighed. "I still find it hard to agree with the notion that we should only consider the ends, and not the means to get there, Lelouch."

"But?" Lelouch asked, a wicked grin spreading on his face.

"The assassin who you call the Black Mask... men like him have no principles! He's a menace, not just to Britannians, but to all of the people in the Tokyo Settlement. In spite of my worst fears, you've shown that you've at least managed to hold onto some principles, Lelouch. No. As much as you're ever the cynic, you've somehow emerged as more of an idealist than you ever were before, if such a contradiction even makes sense. And you've got almost the entire Student Council with you too... I can't fight all of them, and I never had any intention to in the first place."

Suzaku glanced over to Euphemia. "And Princess Euphemia will never be safe until the Black Mask is brought to justice. I admit, I may have betrayed my oath to Britannia, but my oath to protect her is one that I still take with the utmost seriousness. The same goes for Nunnally. You know I'd always look after her for you, Lelouch. But if she could be abducted by Medjed, then the Black Mask could do so just as easily. I can't let that happen." He turned. "And you, Shirley. I once swore that I would bring the Black Knights to justice for the crime of killing your father. But they didn't. The Black Mask did. So I won't rest until I fulfill the spirit of that promise, and bring the real killer to justice."

"Umm... does that mean... that you're joining us, Suzaku?" Shirley asked. "In the Black Knights, I mean..."

"Don't think that I want to destroy Britannia like Lelouch does," Suzaku replied. "I still think that it can be reformed from within. There are good people within it still, who are willing to make changes for the better."

"And you wouldn't mean Princess Euphemia now, would you?" Milly grinned, a knowing look on her her face.

"Huh?" Suzaku and Euphemia said in unison, taken off guard by Milly's unexpected interruption.

"That's besides the point!" Suzaku said quickly, giving Lelouch the distinct impression that his old friend was blushing underneath the vermillion bird mask. Euphy certainly was - her mask covered much less of her face. "The point is, I'm not joining to be part of a revolution. That's not who I am. This will only be a temporary arrangement. I'll work with you only for so long as it takes us to apprehend the Black Mask. That's our common interest. And it's the best way to keep those people I care about safe."

Suzaku paused. "But tell me one more thing, Lelouch, before I commit to this course. I assume you vote on your targets. Is it majority rule? Or does it have to be unanimous?"

"It's always been by a unanimous decision," Lelouch replied.

"Good," Suzaku said. "Then count me in. Nunnally, Shirley, Euphy, and the others seem to have been doing a good job at keeping your worst impulses in check, Lelouch, but then again, they let you try to topple the Chinese Federation, with who knows what consequences that will bring. If I'm officially a member of the Black Knights, by your own rules, you won't be able to do anything crazy unless I also approve of it."

"Wait, Zero!" Kallen started in a panic. "Are you really going to let him join us after he said that?! There's no way we'll be able to overthrow Britannia's rule if he's just going to veto any target we might choose! He'll neuter the Black Knights!"

"I never said that," Suzaku replied. "I'll admit, there is some good that you can do with the power to change hearts, and there may be cases where any other reasonable options have been exhausted. As much as I still think you need to consider the means by which you achieve your ends, clearly they aren't the only consideration either." He turned back to Lelouch. "You came clean with me, so I need to be honest with myself too: I would have never let Princess Euphemia rejoin you if I truly believed that the end in doing so was worthless, unjust as the means may have been. So I'll defer to the judgment of those I trust, and I'll only vote down your targets if I feel that you're clearly in the wrong."

"Your idea of what's a reasonable and ours are very different things," Kallen grumbled.

"It's better that Suzaku be with us than with our enemies," Lelouch replied. "Very, well, Suzaku." He made a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to the Black Knights! I am Zero! The others go by Tama, Queen, Diamond, Bishop, Noire, Dame, and Dragon whenever we're in the Metaverse," he said, pointing to each of his teammates in turn.

"You didn't mention Nunnally or her friends at all," Suzaku said.

"Oh, we're not part of the Black Knights at all, Suzaku," Nunnally said cheerfully. "The five of us are the Irregulars. We've just teamed up with the Black Knights recently. You can call me 'Nemo' while we're in here. May I introduce you to Speed, Order, Land, and Power?"

"I see..." Suzaku murmured. "I guess there are more surprises every day..."

Lelouch fought back a smirk. Suzaku only had a vote in his Metaverse operations now, not his sister's. The Irregulars could continue to operate unhindered. But of course, they would remain coordinated with the Black Knights, for their respective leaders were always in touch with each other.

"I guess I'll need a codename too, won't I?" Suzaku asked after a moment. "It's almost like those games we used to play back at the Kururugi Shrine, Le- I mean, Zero. But none of this is a game at all."

"I know! Crow!" Dalque shouted out. "His mask is like a bird. A crow's a bird!"

Alice gave her an incredulous look. "Crows are black, Power, not red."

"Umm... he's joining the Black Knights, isn't he?" Dalque said after a moment. "So it still fits!"

Alice shook her head. "Now you're just grasping at straws."

"If I may," Euphemia said softly, "I have a suggestion."

"What is it, Noire?" Lelouch asked.

"Knight," Euphemia said clearly.

"That's funny, Noire," Lelouch smirked. "I was just about to propose the same code name for him as well." He turned to Suzaku. "Do you have any objections?"

Suzaku shook his head.

"Very well, it's decided," Lelouch grinned, feeling the power of the Justice Arcana grow within him.

"Welcome to the team, Knight!" Milly shouted, pulling Suzaku into a sudden hug that he seemed quite overwhelmed by.

"Diamond!" Euphemia gasped, sounding scandalized. "Let go of him this this instant! It barely looks like he can breathe in there!"

"Aw, I'm just being friendly," Diamond pouted. "Besides, almost all of my best friends are in the Black Knights now. Isn't that a cause for celebration?"

"I'm happy that Su- um, Knight's joined us too," Shirley said, "but you really need to work on respecting other people's personal space sometimes."

"I can see that," Xingke said. He turned to Suzaku. "You strike me as having your own strong sense of honor. I hope you prove worthy of that assessment."

Suzaku held firm under Xingke's gaze without flinching.

"I'm watching you too, Knight," Kallen said.

"Watch, yes," Leila said, "But there's no point in making him feel unwelcome, Queen."

"I've always liked Knight," Arthur said.

"Biting my hand, you mean," Suzaku grimaced.

"I can't help it! It's like catnip!"

"Um... I guess that I'm not going to have to worry about sneaking out of the Government Bureau for a while, am I?" Euphemia asked Suzaku.

"As long as we're working together to find that Black Mask, Princess- Noire?" Suzaku said, fumbling to correct himself.

Euphemia laughed lightly. "You don't have to use my title here, Knight. I don't even mind if you dispense with it back in the real world, when others aren't around. My title doesn't really mean that much to me, and it shouldn't to you, either. I'm just Noire here in the Metaverse, and Euphy when I'm not."

"As you wish, Noire," Suzaku replied, though his voice and manner still remained deferential.

Euphemia shook her head. "You're just silly sometimes, Knight."

Lelouch shook his head. Euphemia could be just as silly and impulsive at times too. But she had helped secure Suzaku's cooperation, for the time being, and that was what mattered. While it imposed certain restrictions on the Black Knights' activities, it also opened new opportunities for them, opportunities he would be sure to exploit to the fullest.

And then, he still had to make contact with his other rebellious half-sister, Princess Marrybell mel Britannia.

It was turning out to be a most eventful evening.

 **A/N** :

 **There was a longer delay between chapters than I'd like, but here it is, and thanks for everyone who's been following so far. The story now has over 400 follows and favorites!**

 **Originally, I would have liked to get to Lelouch communicating with Marrybell in this chapter. However, it was important to fully develop the scene with Suzaku, and by the time it finished the chapter already seemed too long for another scene with Marrybell. Rest assured that Lelouch and Marrybell will interact with each other in the next chapter, and there should be more confidant developments as well as the Black Knights await the outcome of Gao Hai's change of heart.**

 **As for Suzaku's Persona, Lancelot is resistant to both physical and gun skills, but weak to Curse spells. Canonically, the Knightmare Frame Lancelot is capable of taking great amounts of punishment, thanks to its armor and built-in Blaze Luminous shielding, which enabled it to withstand the shrapnel of a Chaos Mine as early as episode 5. Those familiar with Code Geass will be able to infer why his weakness is Curse, one that he shares with Shirley.**

 **Stat-wise, Lancelot is at least as strong as Guren Jigoku overall, but the balance of their stats is different. Lancelot trades some of the magical power that Guren Jigoku has for additional physical strength, and also trades luck for greater endurance. Lancelot specializes in heavy physical and gun skills as its primary sources of damage (the canonical Lancelot was armed with a Maser Vibration Sword and a VARIS rifle as its main weapons), but also has access to non-elemental Almighty spells (such as Megidola). Lancelot has no innate healing abilities but is capable of casting shields (Tetrakarn, Makarakarn) to temporarily reflect incoming attacks and making it capable of briefly covering its own weakness.**

 **See you next time, and once again, thanks for reading!**


	61. The Boundless Sea

Returning to Ashford Academy, Lelouch felt exhaustion creeping in on him, most likely due to the prolonged battle against Gao Hai's Shadow. The shock of being caught by Suzaku as they emerged from the Metaverse had delayed the onset of weariness, as his body and mind had done into overdrive, following a fight or flight response, but that could only sustain him for so long.

Still, he couldn't let himself crash into the comfort of his bed as soon as he arrived back in his dormitory, as much as he wanted to. He had already kept Marrybell waiting for far longer than he had meant to.

Powering up his laptop, Lelouch logged onto Knightwatch under his "Zero" account. So far, all of the encryption protocols that kept Britannian agents from hacking the site or determining the identities of those who posted on it seemed to still be intact, as Diethard, and now Nina had assured him. That said, he would want to keep any correspondence over the net with Marrybell brief. There was no such thing as a perfect firewall, and as superbly skilled as both Diethard and Nina were at hacking, there were only two of them. Britannia had a legion of intelligence agents, cryptographers, and enough raw computing power to utterly dwarf any botnet that Nina might assemble.

Really, it was more incredible, and a testament to his allies' abilities that KnightWatch _hadn't_ been hacked yet, or at least not compromised in a way that was obvious to its administrators. Britannia could have even conducted a massive denial of service attack against KnightWatch at any time, and he suspected that the only reason that they hadn't done so was to more effectively keep tabs on the elusive Black Knights.

Now...

Lelouch glanced up at his inbox. A new private message was there. Lelouch grinned. The first objective was cleared. Only a few users had the necessary account credentials to directly PM his own, and he had given Marrybell those with her new account. Moving his cursor up to read the message, he saw that it was indeed from her, or as the the handle he had assigned read, "GlindaG".

"I didn't expect you to prepare to contact me like this. Are you who I think you are?" the message in the chat read.

Lelouch smirked. She was being cautious. Well, two could play at that game.

"It was a gamble. There was no guarantee that we would meet again, but the price of setting up the invitation was minuscule compared to the potential benefits. But who do you think I really am?" he wrote back.

After a short time, another message appeared on his screen. "You took your time. But to answer your question, my half brother, who I last saw at the airport, when you were being sent away with your sister." There was a pause, as if Marrybell was thinking on her end. "They said that both of you had died during the war."

So Marrybell grasped the need for caution, even on KnightWatch, as well, keeping everything purposefully vague, yet perfectly intelligible to the two of them. That was very good.

"Indeed, I've returned from the depths of hell intact, sister."

"Did your sister survive too?"

"She was right there with us, though you wouldn't have recognized her. It's a side effect of that that place's peculiar dress code. I can tell you more about it later."

"I guess it's no wonder that I didn't recognize her then. But I'm glad... at least you still have your sister."

Lelouch felt a sudden sense of foreboding. Even before awakening to his Persona, he had kept tabs on the leading members of the royal family, following what news he could of them to better plan his eventual rebellion against them, even if he had no idea of how he he would accomplish it at the time. But it wasn't practical to follow every member of the royal family closely. Between his father's 108 consorts and all of their children, it had hundreds of members, and with the Britannian press as tightly controlled as it was, getting substantial information on most of them, especially those who had yet to reach the age of majority, ranged from difficult to nearly impossible.

There had barely been any mention of Marrybell in the news over these years, or else he had missed it while he was on the run. And while he wasn't going to admit it to Marrybell, her younger sister... Julia had been her name... had never been a priority for him to keep tabs on, next to Schneizel, Cornelia, and the others...

"What happened?" he asked.

"She's gone. My mother too. But this isn't the proper place to discuss it. Some things are better said face-to-face."

Marrybell hadn't said what the cause of death was, but there was only one thing that Lelouch could think of that would cause the untimely deaths of both her sister, Julia mel Britannia, and her mother, Flora mel Britannia.

Murder. Anything else would be too much of much of a coincidence in the Imperial Court.

Why hadn't he heard about that? Another Empress being murdered, so soon after his own mother, should have been a major story throughout the Empire. But it seemed that the news of it had been quietly suppressed, or no one cared enough to report on it with the war going on.

He needed more information. Who was behind it, and were they the same party that was responsible for the assassination of his mother?

"Very well. I know a place that we could meet." Lelouch typed back, even more interested in seeing Marrybell in person now than before.

"You like chess, don't you?" he asked.

 **Are the Black Knights Just?**

 **Yes: 19.3%**

 **Days Until the Empress is Married: 12**

xXx

"Welcome back to my Velvet Room, Trickster," an unwelcome, deep voice boomed.

Lelouch wearily peered through the bars of his cell to see Igor leering at him, the Prison Master's bloodshot eyes as malevolent and deceitful as ever.

"Welcome back, Inmate," Tsu said, careful to maintain a cold, professional tone in the presence of her master. She didn't refer to him as "Trickster", as she had only started calling him that as their bond grew deeper. Igor wasn't supposed to know just how strong it had really become, nor of their plans to rebel against his authority when the time was right.

"Welcome back, Mr. Inmate," Shi chorused, though Lelouch could not help but notice that she was more visibly happy to see him, even as she held herself back under her older sister's stern gaze. Then again, Shi had always been the more cheerful of the two, so Lelouch was not overly concerned about it raising Igor's suspicions.

"You have done well, Trickster," Igor continued. "You have triumphed over your greatest trial thus far, overcoming enormous odds to steal the Treasure that you sought in your latest heist. Such commendable efforts should be rewarded, and as you have proven yourself worthy, I now grant you the ability to hold up to twelve Personas within yourself."

Igor held out a spindly gloved hand, and Lelouch once again felt new vistas opening up within the sea of his soul.

"This is the last time that you shall have my assistance in this manner," Igor said. "Possess the Wild Card as you may, it would be too dangerous for you to attempt to carry any more than twelve Personas, lest you lose yourself among them, and so I shall not allow it."

There was an air of finality to Igor's pronouncement, as usual brooking no arguments, though Lelouch couldn't help but feel irritated. Was Igor trying to purposefully limit his growth?

"Do I see ingratitude on your face, Trickster?" Igor demanded. "It is unbecoming of you, the Deadly Sin of Pride, which if unchecked shall lead to naught but ruin. I suggest you reflect on how far you would have gotten had it not been for my guidance and assistance."

Igor was just like his father, of that there was no doubt. The Emperor too had berated him for ingratitude, before declaring that he would be exiled to Japan with Nunnally. Fortunately, there was no indication that Igor was capable of reading his mind, though the Prison Master seemed to have effective omniscience everywhere else.

"Still," Igor mused, "you have new allies, Trickster, and you have drawn closer to old ones. The Knight, your half-sister who leads the Glinda Knights... and the failure..."

"Failure?" Lelouch asked, suddenly confused.

"Your latest paramour, who you call 'Bishop' whenever you enter the Metaverse," Igor said, his face as ever forming a horrible mockery of a smile. "Have you not wondered why she was granted the Metaverse Navigator all on her own, without having come into contact with a Trickster until she met you?"

It was true. He had wondered that before, but he doubted that Igor was actually reading his mind right now. It was simply a logical question to ask.

"I have," Lelouch said firmly, "but Leila's anything but a failure."

"You speak of what you know naught of, Trickster. She was meant to be a Trickster, like yourself. She was granted the power of the Wild Card, and the Metaverse Navigator with it, long before you ever received them, when she was but a child. Do you not remember what she said to you upon your first meeting?"

He did. Leila had told him, "I've had this power since I was a young girl, but I never needed to use it until a few days ago." That at least matched up with the Prison Master's story.

"As the offspring of a pair of dissidents, rebels against their society, I had thought that she would have every reason to discover her true powers, use them to her advantage, test their limits, and grow into a powerful Trickster. She was the first one that I chose to stop Ragnarok. But she was a failure." Igor's voice was uncharacteristically soft, but filled with understated anger. "She lacked the necessary... selfishness, if you will, to become a proper Trickster. And so she let her powers lie dormant for far too many years."

"But the power of the Wild Card is filled with limitless possibilities! How-" Shi began, a look of dismay on her face as she realized where the conversation was going.

"It seems that they can be closed off with time," Tsu finished, frowning.

"Indeed," Igor said. "As she grew older, she adopted a new mask to face the world, and began using it consistently, that of a demure young woman, more comfortable with books than with people, looking for answers to deeper mysteries. That mask ossified, giving definite shape to her power yet confining the potential that she once had, squandering it. And so her Arcana changed from the Fool to the Priestess, and the Wild Card was lost to her forever."

"With all due respect, Master," Tsu began, "I do not recall-"

"She did not make a proper contract, and so she was not welcome within my Velvet Room," Igor said, imperiously cutting Tsu off. His head turned slightly, bloodshot eyes bulging toward her, and his displeasure was palpable. "Your responsibility is to help guide the Trickster. You shall speak to me only when you are spoken to."

Shi cringed, fearful for her sister. Tsu herself could only nod in silence. Any other response would simply provoke Igor.

Seemingly satisfied with her obedience, Igor chuckled. "But it is no matter, for there were others with potential." The Prison Master turned, and his demented grin spread.

"You had to wear many masks throughout your life, Trickster, and moreso than most. Your potential remained as strong yet formless as ever, ready to assume whatever shape it needed to in order to strike back against your father. I knew that you would be more than an adequate replacement for her."

How dare he treat Leila as if she was just a tool? But then again, that was how Igor treated all of his 'Inmates', so Lelouch could hardly be surprised.

"You replaced her before I ever came along," Lelouch said coldly. "There was Kallen's brother. And then you had me replace him in turn."

"While his rehabilitation was indeed cut short, it was not entirely without merit. Those with potential that he had already drawn to him were there to follow you in turn, and so he has played his part, however small it was, in stopping Ragnarok. That is, should you succeed, Trickster. I sincerely hope that you will not let his sacrifice go to waste."

Lelouch was certain that Igor had never felt anything over Naoto Kozuki's death, and in turn he only felt contempt for the old Prison Master.

"I have always cultivated Tricksters where I could," Igor said, seemingly in amusement. "But since your awakening, I have always considered you the most promising Trickster of all."

"I'm honored," Lelouch replied sarcastically. "Still, I can't help but notice that all of your choices for Tricksters, save for Kozuki, are from the nobility. Most are even royalty. But he still had noble blood, though he was never legally adopted into the Stadtfeld family, and plenty of reason to hate Britannia, so he still fits the profile."

"Yes, he was more than just a mere commoner, and he had certain gifts for leadership. That is why I chose him. But as a rule, commoners lack the talent, ambition, or perspective to be effective Tricksters, and are foolish as the masses ever are. Yet by the virtue of your birth, you were from the start marked for greater things. Who better to lead them forward from the brink of ruin and spur them to change their own indolent hearts?" Igor chuckled. "Indeed, I expect great things from you, Trickster."

That was a new insight into the Prison Master for a change. Igor subscribed to the same ideology that Britannia did, that nobles made for "a superior breed of ruler" over the common people, who could not be trusted to govern themselves. If it were not for his father's plans to bring about Ragnarok, he had a feeling that Igor would very much approve of his father's reign, which only made him hate the Prison Master more. It was an unwelcome realization, but it was hardly one that Lelouch could truly find surprising, given how similar Igor and his father seemed to each other. Though it seemed just as likely that Igor had actually chosen him, Nunnally, and Marrybell specifically for the irony of his father being defeated by his own progeny. Lelouch had little doubt that Igor was prideful and vain enough to engineer such an outcome solely for his own amusement.

"Still, the failure was of some use in the end," Igor said, sounding even more amused. "Even as but a fragment of what it once was, her power mingled with yours, strengthening you, and even reclaimed a glimpse of its former glory in the process. Still, I do find your tastes... intriguing Trickster... I have already spoken to you of the dangers of involving yourself further with the Great Sinner of Lust. The first woman to become inextricably bound to you was filled with Wrath that would have consumed even herself in the end, and stubborn Pride, a truly perilous combination. And what is the failure now but the image of Vanity?"

"Leila isn't-" Lelouch began angrily.

Igor raised a hand, demanding his silence. "For example, have you ever paused to consider how much effort it must take her to maintain such long and lustrous hair? How much expense she must go to in order to buy the products she needs to care for it? How much time must her servants spend helping her style it, so that not a hair is out of place, while she sits in front of a mirror, admiring herself? But such efforts are ultimately futile, for her beauty will fade with age."

No, that wasn't Leila at all. Leila hated all of the unwanted attention that her looks had brought her, and had repeatedly put the needs of others above her own. The idea that she was self-absorbed was irreconcilable with the evidence.

But while Leila was hardly obsessed with her personal appearance, as Mrs. Stadtfeld had been, her position nonetheless demanded that she invest substantial time and effort into maintaining it. Britannia's Social Darwinist ideology led not only to a fixation on strength and martial prowess, but physical beauty. In turn there was enormous pressure on members of Britannia's noble and royal classes to embody those qualities, so as to reinforce the eugenics-based propaganda that held them up as inherently superior to commoners, to say nothing of Numbers.

To a Britannian eugenicist's eyes, Leila would be considered a practically perfect specimen. Germany had long been part of Europia, but before the Humiliation of Edinburgh, Britannia had held many fiefdoms there, including Breisgau, and, for a time, even its royal family had been German. Today, the el Britannia line, which Schneizel belonged to, could still trace its roots back to Germany. As such, Germanic ancestry was still highly regarded and considered very attractive among much of Britannia's nobility. Leila epitomized those ideals of feminine Germanic beauty with her flowing, light blonde hair, a shapely and buxom figure, refined features, and those prized violet eyes, which together made her look more like a princess than many members of Britannia's own royal family. On top of that, she was healthy and physically fit enough that Clovis had once asked her enlist under him in the Britannian military, and her intelligence was only further proof of her superiority over commoners.

In spite of its overt racism and classism, Britannia was in fact far less sexist than it had once been. An increasing number of women like his half-sister Cornelia, Anya Alstreim, Villetta Nu, or Cecile Croomy were entering the military, and while many nobles still resented the late Empress Marianne for having been born a commoner, Marianne the Flash was still the lofty standard that all Knightmare pilots compared themselves to. But for those noblewomen who became socialites instead of enlisting in the military, looks were still seen as paramount. Those roles were not mutually exclusive; that Marianne had been extremely successful in both no doubt intensified the hatred that other nobles felt toward her.

Yet Leila had turned down a role in the Britannian military, while continuing to play the socialite, and in turn Britannian society expected that she would put her appearance first. She could have retreated into a third role, that of a successful, career-driven businesswoman, and indeed, there were also a growing number of Britannian noblewomen who ran their own companies. But to really be seen as such, and not simply an heiress, Leila would have to be far more ruthless, and that in turn would put far more people on guard against her, inviting scrutiny that she didn't need. It was far better for Leila if other nobles thought that she was simply a pretty face, leading them to underestimate her true talents. Maintaining that mask was essential to her survival, and so she allocated her time and resources accordingly, just as her parents had engaged in otherwise fantastically wasteful expenditures to maintain their covers.

But it mattered not that Igor had said earlier that Leila wasn't selfish enough to be a Trickster, even as he now accused her of the most shallow kind of selfishness. Igor was determined to convict her of the Deadly Sin of Vanity, no matter how hypocritical his arguments, and so nothing that Lelouch might say could possibly change the Prison Master's mind.

Igor was still going on his rant. "There is no reason for such frivolous expenditures, save for self-indulgence and beguiling others. As such, I deem it a Deadly Sin. And beguile others she did, using her looks to fraudulently charm the late Third Prince and ensnare him with false promises of love. Just as surely as the insanity of Lust, and the passions of Wrath, the Deadly Sin of Vanity and the fraudulence of mankind shall bring forth ruin!"

That was enough. "If they've committed sins, mine are far greater!" Lelouch shot back, not caring if it would provoke Igor or not. He wasn't simply going to stand by and permit the Prison Master to slander those he cared for unopposed. "The Deadly Sin of Wrath drives me to tear down Britannia for what it did to me and my sister! The Deadly Sin of Pride, often considered the gravest of all, demands that I bow to no one, not even an Emperor!" He laughed. "And I suppose I did my best to pretend it wasn't there for far too long, but I can be just as guilty of the Deadly Sin of Lust as anyone else."

"But am I going to apologize for enjoying the company of such beautiful women?" Lelouch asked. "For feeling righteous anger at appalling injustice? Or not simply submitting to a tyrant's whims? Of course not. I am unrepentant. Besides, what are lust, passion, and pride but some of our most hardwired natural drives? You call them Deadly Sins, but they are neither good nor evil by themselves, and without them, humanity would have long since gone extinct as a species. So if Leila should happen to take some satisfaction in her appearance, in spite of all the trouble it's caused her... who am I to deny her that?"

A deep, slow laugh echoed through the Velvet Room.

"The sins that you so exult in will surely drag you down to Hell one day, Trickster," Igor said. "As they say, pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."

Lelouch had expected the Prison Master to explode in anger, but the bizarre old man seemed to be in an oddly good mood.

"I've always been chained to Hell itself, ever since I made my contract," Lelouch replied with a smirk.

"Let it be said that you never bore me, Trickster," Igor nodded, and Lelouch felt the power of the Fool grow yet stronger within him.

With that, the Velvet Room's bell harshly sounded.

"It is time for you to go, Trickster. As always, I shall be watching your progress closely..."

xXx

Lelouch woke up, back in his room at Ashford Academy. So much had happened since yesterday: stealing Gao Hai's heart, getting caught by Suzaku and persuading him to join forces with the Black Knights, at least for a time, contacting and making plans to meet with Marrybell, and Igor's revelation about Leila's true role as a Persona-user. As always, the Black Knights would have to wait for Gao Hai's change of heart to fully take effect, but there was still plenty that had to be done in the meantime, even before his scheduled rendezvous with Marrybell.

He also had to remain as vigilant as ever against potential threats, whether from the Student Council's resident detective, or Schneizel's machinations, which as ever seemed to feature plots within plots. Picking up the pieces in the Chinese Federation would only be the Second Prince's overt purpose. With Schneizel's own interest in Cognitive Psience, something far more insidious was afoot, of that Lelouch was sure. Had the Black Knights already stepped into one of Schneizel's deadly traps? Only time would tell. But if one could recognize the trap, then perhaps one could play the fool and feign being truly caught in it, remaining ever ready to strike back at the one who had set it once the time was right.

Lelouch smirked. Wasn't that how it had always been? The odds had been stacked against him even before he began his quest to topple Britannia, and he had never been one afraid to take risks. He'd make Schneizel pay for his overconfidence in believing that he had the Black Knights exactly where he wanted them...

But first, he would have to get through another day of school.

xXx

The student body of Ashford Academy was of course ignorant to the fact that Gao Hai's heart had already been changed, or that the Black Knights had sent a calling card to the High Eunuch at all. Officials at the Chinese Federation Consulate had evidently chosen not to publicize that fact to Britannian media. There was still some talk about the Black Knights and Euphemia's kidnapping, but it was much quieter than it had been. The students were, for the most part, settling into the new term, and going back to the comfort of their everyday routines.

Talk about Leila's still-recent transfer to Ashford Academy nonetheless remained a popular topic of conversation. It was already evident that she had gained more than a few new admirers, though thankfully they kept a respectful distance for now. But for the most part, Leila had made a remarkably smooth and hassle-free transition to Ashford Academy, and had quickly become recognized as the Student Council's newest member. That was important on both counts. He would hate it if Leila was unhappy at Ashford when he had been the one to suggest that she transfer schools in the first place, and it would give Leila an excuse to regularly be seen around him and the other Black Knights without it being overly suspicious.

The morning's classes were tedious for Lelouch, as they usually were, but soon the bell rang. For most students, it would be the start of a free period, but for Lelouch it meant the start of a Student Council meeting. They of course wouldn't be able to discuss Black Knight business there, as Rolo and Rivalz were not part of the Black Knights, but Lelouch appreciated that they could still do real Student Council things, just like old times.

For their part, his fellow Black Knights on the Student Council did an excellent job of not giving a hint as to the fact that they had been engaged in a life-or-death struggle against the distorted desires of the Consul-General just the day before. To her credit, Kallen continued to remain in character as best she could, increasingly frustrating as that had to be for her. Suzaku played along with Kallen as well, convincingly acting as if he hadn't seen her true, more daring self. But most importantly, none of them had been arrested yet. That meant that Suzaku had kept his end of their bargain, at least for now.

"GUTS!" Milly's voice rang out, pulling Lelouch's attention back to the meeting itself. "We still have to plan this year's culture festival, and I want it to be bigger and better than ever!"

Lelouch thought that he knew why Milly was so motivated to leave her mark on this year's culture festival. She was set to graduate in the spring, provided that she earned enough credits in her remaining classes. It might be one of Milly's last chances to truly go all out on an event like this.

"Besides, we've got more members than ever, so there's no reason not to give it our all!" Milly continued passionately.

It occurred to Lelouch that there might be another reason for Milly's urgency. Gao Hai's Shadow had been a trial unlike any that they had faced thus far, and the challenges before them would only continue to grow. Even she couldn't fail to notice the signs that their enemies were slowly closing in around them. The appearances of the Knights of the Round and the Black Mask at the consulate party couldn't be mistaken as anything else. But all of that paled next to the Emperor, who would be undoubtedly be a far more formidable opponent, against whom even Igor had repeatedly urged caution.

Yet facing his father eventually would be necessary if the Black Knights were to achieve their aims. Against such odds, there was a good chance, as much as he didn't want to think about it, that they may not all make it out alive. Milly herself had briefly died once already, back in the Black King's Palace, and if it hadn't been for Euphemia, she would have died for good then and there.

Was that weighing on Milly's mind as well? It had to be. As much as she put forward much the same face as she always had, Lelouch had always suspected that the incident had affected Milly far more than she would like her friends to know. That filled Milly's desire to put on a fun and memorable culture festival with greater urgency than ever before. It wasn't just her last chance for one. It might be the last chance for all of them to indulge in one of her madcap festivals.

As much as Lelouch disliked some of the events Milly had come up with in the past, there was no way he could deny such an earnest wish from her. It would be good to have a day with his friends, as just ordinary students, without worrying about Palaces, the Metaverse, or Britannia. Besides, Leila had never truly experienced the craziness that Milly could come up with. That wasn't anything he would have her miss for the world.

"Very well, Madam President," Lelouch said, smiling at the thought. "I'm all in... well, as long as there aren't any events that would require cross-dressing. You've had those way too often." More to the point, she had all too recently forced him to do so as part of her plan for them to gain entrance to Gao Hai's Palace. He couldn't say that out loud, but it had been more than enough.

"Oh, don't you go worrying about that," Milly replied with a mischievous grin of her own. "I promise that you won't have to cross-dress again this year. None of the guys will. But I won't promise that I don't have other costume events in mind..." Her gaze drifted over to Shirley and Kallen, as if sizing them up for whatever embarrassing outfits she had in mind.

"Are you pl-" Kallen said, starting somewhat too gruffly for her character, before quickly correcting herself. "I mean, what do you have in mind?" she asked meekly.

"I mean, why are you looking at the two of us like that?" Shirley said, able to freely express what Kallen had to be thinking.

"Don't worry about it! It'll be fun!"

Lelouch doubted that Shirley and Kallen would agree.

"I haven't forgotten our newest member, either!" Milly beamed. "I know just the event for you!"

"I look forward to helping out in whatever way I can," Leila nodded.

"You're not falling for that, are you?" Lelouch asked, giving Leila an incredulous look. Leila had been around Milly enough to know that she wasn't to be trusted when she got excited.

"Geez! Why's everything got to be so sinister with you?" Milly huffed, though her voice remained as playful as ever. "Besides, it will help us raise lots of money for club activities, and she's perfectly suited for it!"

Lelouch continued to eye Milly suspiciously. "You still haven't said what 'it' is. A kissing booth? That would be too much like prostitution. Besides, I'm sure Leila values her privacy, and that sort of event would draw in people for all the wrong reasons. Or maybe you meant a chess tournament? Now that would be a great idea, if not for the fact that we wouldn't be able to gamble on the matches, as I'm sure Shirley would remind me."

Lelouch became aware of several sets of eyes staring at him.

"What?"

"Umm... it's really nothing, Lelouch," Rivalz began nervously. "But it's not really like you to jump to something like a kissing booth right away... And do you really think that she's..."

"That's just because I thought it would be what President would think of!" Lelouch replied frantically, but he could tell that Rivalz remained unconvinced. Suzaku was giving him odd looks as well, and Rolo was simply shaking his head, as if in wry amusement. Shirley seemed a bit embarrassed herself, while Kallen was clearly fighting back exasperation.

"That actually does sound like something that she would suggest," Leila said evenly after a moment, "in which case I must decline. But chess would be quite agreeable."

Lelouch felt the tension in the room dissipate immediately, and silently he thanked Leila. It was masterfully played on her part. By agreeing with him, she had made it seem like it had been a natural conclusion, and she had spoke with such polished manners that it would be almost impossible for anyone present to be angry with her.

"Though actually," Lelia said softly. "I have a suggestion, if you're open to it."

"You do?!" Milly asked excitedly. "Let's hear it!"

"I've practiced tarot reading in my spare time... it's just an amusing hobby of mine." She smiled. "But I've been told that I'm rather good at it. I could run a fortune-telling booth."

Lelouch did his best not to show any undue reactions. He had been the one to tell Leila that she was good at it, and she had remembered after all of this time. But as far as those outside the Black Knights knew, he had only met Leila relatively recently, and if he admitted otherwise it would only draw unwanted questions.

"Ooh, that sounds pretty fun!" Milly grinned. "I'll admit, it's quite a bit different than what I had in mind, but I like it! I'm sure plenty of people will line up to have your read their fortunes! Way to go, stepping up to the plate like that!"

Yes, people would be lining up to have Leila read their fortunes for all of the wrong reasons. But he had been the one to suggest it to Leila in the first place. He couldn't help but feel some jealousy in his heart, but least it would probably be far more dignified for Leila than whatever Milly originally had in mind.

"And don't forget everyone, we have a play to put on as well!" Milly said, without missing a beat. "After all, Nina's been putting in so much hard work to make props and special effects for us!"

That was the excuse he had used to have Nina make useful infiltration tools for the Black Knights with her scientific know-how, before her change of heart had led her to begin willingly assisting them. Part of him was surprised that Milly still remembered that.

"It really isn't that much," Nina said softly. "That sort of stuff comes naturally to me, but anyone can do it if they know the science."

"Nina! There's no need to be modest!" Milly gently chided. "I know I couldn't do half of what you do!"

Nina smiled, with a warmth that one would have been hard-pressed to see from her prior to her change of heart. "I'm just glad that I'm able to help my friends."

Lelouch found he couldn't help but smile a bit as well.

"Alright!" Milly exclaimed, seeming more determined than ever. "There's lots for us to do, but I know we can all make this the best culture festival Ashford has ever seen! So let's get started! Here are your assignments everyone!"

xXx

Most of the assignments that Milly had given out to them were general organizational tasks for now. Before any festival could happen, clubs had to get plans and budgets approved, and have space allotted to them across the campus. The same was true of each homeroom. Then there would be supplies to order, posters to print, costumes to make, and schedules to be drawn up, along with a host of other tasks that would have to be delegated over the coming weeks in order to make the event a success.

She had them working in small groups, though thankfully, she hadn't done anything so transparent as setting him up with Kallen, Shirley, and Leila, so that she could eavesdrop on them again for a "juicy" scoop on his love life. Milly was actually working with Leila herself, though Lelouch was sure that his Bishop could handle herself. As for him, he was working alone with Suzaku. Maybe Milly planned it that way as a gesture of trust, or so the two of them could catch up with each other, in a way they hadn't had the luxury of doing back in Mementos.

"Lelouch, there's something I've been meaning to ask," Suzaku started.

Lelouch looked up. Was Suzaku going to ask more about the Black Knights, or him being Zero? Rolo and Rivalz were nowhere to be seen, but he would still prefer not to talk about something so sensitive in their present location.

"What is it, Suzaku?" Lelouch replied cautiously.

"What's your deal with Kallen and Shirley?"

 _That_ was the first thing Suzaku chose to ask about? Yes, even Suzaku couldn't have missed that something was unusual about his relationships with them, and subtlety wasn't one of Suzaku's strong suits, but he was still thrown by how forward his old friend was being.

"What do you mean?" Lelouch. There were actually several ways in which Suzaku's question could be interpreted, now that he thought of them. It would also be a good way to gauge exactly how much Suzaku had managed to figure out on his own.

"I thought it was strange when you started going out with Kallen. You never were one to go for looks, Lelouch, and you wouldn't have cared for the fact that she was a noble either. I mean, we're both 17 now, so maybe you'd changed a bit, but I couldn't really see you falling for a wallflower. I thought that maybe you felt protective of her because her condition reminded you of Nunnally. But your relationship with her always seemed like it developed much too quickly."

Lelouch bristled slightly, not liking how Suzaku had brought Nunnally into it. "I'll admit, I too was surprised by how quickly things developed between us." He lowered his voice. "I knew of her around Ashford before we met in the Palace, and I saw her from time to time in homeroom, or sitting out during gym class, but I didn't really _know_ her. That's the only reason why she was able to fool me for so long. She used to be out of school so much that I didn't have the _chance_ to know her."

"She had me fooled," Suzaku replied. "And the others on the Student Council, at least those who weren't-" He cut himself off, but his meaning was obvious.

"Kallen does have some acting skills, yes," Lelouch replied softly, "but it's tiring for her to keep up appearances all the time. Sooner or later, I would have figured it out on my own, even without that fateful chance encounter."

"You sound awfully sure of yourself," Lelouch, Suzaku replied skeptically. "Though, now that you mention it, I wondered if the whole thing was an act that you two were putting on. Your relationship, I mean."

"An act?"

"I mean, think about it," Suzaku said apologetically. "It would give the two of you the perfect excuse to be seen off-campus with each other. Or explain away any absences when you two were busy with... you know..."

Lelouch knew that Suzaku meant the Black Knights, but it sounded close enough to something entirely different that it made him shift uncomfortably. Hiding his discomfort as best he could, Lelouch admitted evenly, "That's reasonable enough." But he could feel his cheeks warm slightly.

"But then there's Shirley..." Suzaku began cautiously. "How does she feel about all of this? Everyone could tell that she was hurt when you started dating Kallen, and then her father was killed not long afterward. But she's made a remarkable recovery. Not only is she working alongside both you and Kallen, apparently without issue, but she now seems happier than she's ever been." Suzaku paused. "And she's still clearly in love with you. Don't tell me that you're-"

Lelouch sighed. "I'm not some kind of womanizer, if that's what you're asking. You know me better than that, Suzaku. I'd never do that to Shirley or Kallen."

"True..." Suzaku nodded. "But there's only one thing that I can think of that would make Shirley so happy. And if you're not cheating on Kallen, and if you didn't break up with her either without me noticing. That would mean..." Suzaku's eyes widened slightly. "Hear me out, Lelouch. I know it sounds crazy, so forgive me if this comes off as rude... But what if, somehow, Kallen agreed to let you date Shirley as well?"

"Wait, that's the next thing that you think of?!" Lelouch spluttered.

"But I'm right, aren't I?" Suzaku replied, giving him a curious look. "Your reaction gives it away, Lelouch." Suzaku's expression turned to one of slight amusement. "You're blushing."

"I am not!" Lelouch said heatedly, though it was more an attempt to salvage his pride than anything else. He shook his head. "It's complicated... But you're right that we've... reached an understanding together." He looked up, his voice firmer now. "There's no point in denying it. Milly already managed to find out, and I knew you would be able to piece it together, eventually. You just surprised me with how quickly you reached that conclusion, Suzaku."

"Well, thank you for that vote of confidence, Lelouch!" Suzaku said sarcastically, though any indignation on his part was short-lived. "Still, I have to say that I'm surprised. You went from barely even noticing girls to dating two at the same time."

Lelouch chose not to mention that before long, it could be three girls rather than two. Kallen still needed to decide if she was okay with Leila joining them or not.

"Do you disapprove?"

Suzaku shook his head. "If you've managed to make it work between you, I won't judge. While it's definitely out of the ordinary, it seems like such a small thing next to everything else."

If Suzaku was thinking about the Emperor and his one hundred and eight Imperial Consorts, he wisely chose not to mention it, and for that Lelouch was glad.

"You're right about that," Lelouch replied. "And if you had told me that I'd be in such a relationship just a few months ago, I wouldn't have believed you at all." He glanced up at the clock. "But look at the time, Suzaku! We need to make sure we finish this work for the Student Council? You know Madam President isn't going to listen to excuses if we don't complete our tasks. She'll just saddle us with more work."

Suzaku sighed. "You're right about that, Lelouch. Still, for us to be able to talk like this... it's just like old times."

Lelouch felt the power of the Justice Arcana grow ever so slightly within him.

"It is indeed, Suzaku," he smiled.

xXx

The Student Council concluded its business, and they returned to their afternoon classes, which seemed to drag on. Lelouch had far more important matters, such as his upcoming meeting with Marrybell, on his mind.

There was another, related matter on his mind as well. When he had set up the details of his meeting with Marrybell, under the cover of a chess match at a gambling establishment well known for accommodating nobles who wished to match wits against each other, they had agreed that they would each bring one other person with them.

It was obvious that Marrybell would bring Oldrin, as the blonde woman was her Knight. As for himself... Kallen was the obvious choice, in terms of ability to defend herself should an unwelcome party happen to intrude. Marrybell had also seen him with Kallen before, and while the princess had figured out who he was, it was also good to keep some cards close to one's chest.

But chess wasn't one of Kallen's passions. She understood the game, of course, but Kallen would be going out of a sense of obligation to him.

Far more pertinently, there was the question of her attitude toward members of Britannian royalty. That wasn't to say that he didn't hate most members of the royal family for how they had treated his mother, but there were a few that he had some lingering affection for, Marrybell among them. Kallen had come a long way toward being more accepting of Britannians in general, and he was proud of her for that, but he still remembered how negatively she had reacted to Euphemia, even as she had started to warm up to the other members of the Student Council. If negotiating a partnership with the Glinda Knights was the goal, maybe Kallen wasn't the best choice to accompany him.

He could invite Shirley... though then again, she had always been opposed to him gambling on chess matches, and she didn't have a plausible reason to suddenly decide to attend one. But there was another member of the Black Knights who was known for being into chess, and to whom he owed a match.

Leila.

Still, he would make sure to speak to Shirley and Kallen first. While the meeting was business first and foremost, if Kallen's reaction to his infiltration plan at the consulate was any indication, there was a good chance that she might construe it as a date.

But given his own feelings for Leila, it would be hard to tell Kallen that she was wrong, strictly speaking.

xXx

"You called me here to talk about Leila, didn't you?' Kallen asked.

They had met in a secluded room in the Clubhouse, where there was little chance of being overheard, and from there into the Metaverse, away from any eavesdropping Student Council Presidents. Shirley had joined them as well, and stood by Kallen's side. As they were far from any Palace, they remained in their Ashford Academy uniforms.

Lelouch nodded.

"Shirley's already spoken to me about her," Kallen replied, with a nod to Shirley, who returned it with one of her own.

"So..." Kallen looked him right in the eyes. "But what are your thoughts on all of this, Lelouch? You like Leila, don't you? Just like how it was with Shirley..."

There was no point in denying it. That would be a betrayal in of itself.

"I do. But don't think that this was something I planned on, or would have chosen for myself if I had the power to control those feelings." He sighed. "For too long, I didn't let myself get too close to anyone else, save my own sister. I was... aware of girls, but I didn't find myself interested in dating, or building that sort of relationship to begin with. Consumed as I was by my desire for revenge against Britannia, and the need to protect my little sister, anything else seemed like a distraction. And then there was the matter that even if I found someone could capture my interest, any sort of relationship with me would inevitably put them in danger, because of who I really was, and what I planned to do.

"Of course, things are different now," Lelouch continued. "Through a chance encounter, I met the real you, Kallen, and I was glad to have you as my brave and trusted teammate." He turned to Shirley. "You were long one of my friends on the Student Council, but more than that, you always helped me stay connected to an ordinary life here at Ashford. And when Leila arrived on the scene, she was someone I could match wits with who wasn't a rival. All of you became precious friends to me, and if it had stayed that way, everything would have been much simpler for all of us."

He shook his head. "But of course, as we grew closer, our hearts were no longer satisfied with just being friends, even as I had never expected to have so many that I could truly count as confidants. Those feelings may have crept up on us before we even realized they were there, but once we had awakened to our desires, there was no way that any of us could ever go back to how things were. I'm sure both of you understand that all too well."

Kallen nodded grimly. "I had been ready to throw my life away, but you appeared and led me from that abyss, showing me that there was a way to defeat Britannia... Then you were there to force some sense into me when I was mistreating my real mother, and stood by me when I felt like I was going to collapse. There was no way that I wasn't going to fall for you after that... even if I knew on some level what it would mean for me."

"Kallen, there's no need to be so hard on yourself," Shirley piped up. "Love isn't supposed to be some logical thing! No one ever decides, 'I'm going to fall in love with this person.' It just happens, and when it does, you just _know_." She straightened herself. "I saw my Shadow. I know what my love really is. It's a passionate madness, but that's what gives it power! And it's an incredible power!"

Shirley laughed lightly and shook her head. "If I thought that Lulu was anything less than sincere in his love, I wouldn't be willing to share him at all. But Lulu isn't like that... He tries to keep it bottled up, but he's one of the most passionate people I know! I thought about it... and if his his love is so strong to not be any less when extended to more than one person... isn't that the most incredible thing?"

Lelouch looked at Shirley in disbelief. That sounded like something Kaguya would say. "Do you really mean that, Shirley?"

She smiled. "Love isn't something that's finite, Lulu. Could it be so powerful if it was? It's just like that play we read in class." She put a hand over her heart, and held out her other, as if she was acting in that play herself, and recited, "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep. The more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite." She paused. "Isn't it like that for you too, Lulu?"

"Romeo and Juliet," Lelouch stated. "You know that love story didn't end well, don't you, Shirley?" He shook his head. "Still... I think there's some truth in what you say." His bonds with others had become his source of power, and the strongest bonds of all promised him infinite power, did they not?

"But you don't feel _any_ sort of jealousy toward Leila?" he asked her. "I mean, given her circumstances, it's obvious in retrospect that she would develop feelings toward me. She was alone and in pain, and then I entered her life, unwittingly becoming her first real friend. I wasn't after her looks or her fortune, and she didn't have to keep her guard up nor wear a mask around me But for _me_ to develop those feelings for her after I've already made a promise to you two... it makes me feel..."

"Guilty," Kallen cut in, supplying the word that was on the tip of his tongue yet refused to come out on its own.

"Yes," Lelouch said, casting his eyes down.

"I'd be lying if I said that I never felt any sort of jealousy toward her," Shirley replied. "You remember how insecure I was, how inadequate I felt at first next to the other girls in the Black Knights... And I was probably more jealous of her than anyone besides Kallen."

"You were?" Lelouch asked.

"Almost anyone would be!" Kallen huffed. "Think about it! She's beautiful, intelligent, highly educated, well-mannered, and she gets along with you in a way that few others can! The two of you could probably talk about the intricacies of chess or politics for hours on end! Then there's the fact that she's probably the richest person her age in Area 11, thanks to that company she owns, not that you care about that, Lelouch. But she was seen as a suitable match for a freaking prince! And she had to fall for you!"

"Well, Lulu is a prince..." Shirley murmured.

"Former prince," Lelouch corrected. "I renounced that title."

"You know what I meant!" Kallen snapped.

"She did always seem like a princess..." Shirley started.

"You shouldn't put her on a pedestal like that," Lelouch said firmly. The thought had crossed his mind on more than one occasion, but that wasn't what was important to him now. "Leila is herself. She's a real girl, not some 'catch', or 'prize' to be won."

"Oh, I know that, Lulu," Shirley replied. "But as she told you, when we finally had the chance to sit down and talk together before the masquerade ball... I mean, it would be hard for our stations to be more different..."

"Unless you're a Number to Britannia," Kallen interrupted.

"Yes, I stand corrected," Shirley frowned. "But as I was saying, I was struck by how similar we really were. She was able to understand exactly what I'd gone through, from my father, to my feelings for you, Lulu, and she didn't look down on me or bear any sort of grudge against me at all. She was genuinely happy for us, Lulu, and she made me feel welcome, even though I was just a commoner coming into her home. As she helped me with my dress, she was like an older sister, offering advice - and I don't mean like how Milly does!" Shirley flushed slightly at the thought. "And when we talked about why we're Black Knights - we both wanted to protect the weak, and those we cared for."

Shirley took a breath. "But beneath all of that... she seemed so lonely and sad. So that got me thinking - how was it fair that I finally got to be happy, and she didn't? And, well... you know the rest, Lulu."

Now that sounded more like Shirley.

"And what do you feel abut this, Kallen?" Lelouch asked.

"At first, I was your only one... your Queen," Kallen began. "Then there was Shirley, but I was able to accept her in the end, seeing how she was just as... devoted to you as I was. But I _don't_ want to be just a sideshow to you."

Lelouch realized just why Kallen was so anxious about Leila. A blonde, pure-blooded Britannian noblewoman coming in, threatening to take the man she loved from her... It was exactly what had happened to her own mother, minus the fact that it was clear that her father didn't actually love her stepmother. If anything, her boyfriend also being in love with Leila only made things worse for her.

Even after all this time, Kallen was afraid of being cast aside and abandoned.

"So be completely honest with me, Lelouch," Kallen continued. "How many girls is it going to be? Are there any other girls that you like in _that_ way who you haven't told us about yet? Say, Lady Kaguya." Kallen frowned. "She was all too eager to join us as one of your 'Court Ladies', to use her term."

"No," Lelouch said firmly. There were others he was close to, such as Tsu, but that was more of a platonic relationship than anything else, her forcing her way into his bed notwithstanding. "It's just the three of you now."

"Now?" Kallen asked sharply.

"Since I'm being honest with you, I'll admit, Euphy was the first girl that I loved in that way." Seeing Kallen's expression, he quickly added, "But we were kids! I didn't know anyone outside of the Imperial family or Pendragon, and Euphy was the sweetest girl around besides Nunnally."

"You're not helping your case," Kallen replied.

"I outgrew it, just like Shirley did with her father!"

"Lulu..." Shirley murmured, her face turning red.

"As for Kaguya," Lelouch continued, "She's remarkably accomplished, but I can't think of her in that way. As much as she'd hate to hear it, she's too young for me. And we've only met a few times. She's someone I can put my trust in, yes, but she's not someone I know well enough to entertain having that sort of relationship with her. Just ask Suzaku. Kaguya's always been... precocious, as he'd put it. "

That seemed to satisfy Kallen somewhat, though she was still wary.

"Um, since we're on that topic, what about Milly?" Shirley asked. She didn't seem defensive about it, as Kallen had. If anything, she sounded genuinely curious.

"She's like a mischievous big sister to me... though I think she's that for most of us on the Student Council."

He wasn't sure what to make of Shirley's reaction. On one hand, there was a measure of relief on her face. On the other, she seemed a bit sad.

Seeing a chance to take back the initiative, Lelouch turned to Kallen once again, and looked her straight in the eye.

"I know what it is that you fear, Kallen. I know we haven't been able to spend nearly as much time together as we should, but I will never abandon you." He took a moment to gather his thoughts, aware that Kallen was still watching him intently. When he was done, he let out a self-derisive laugh. "Maybe it's all too fitting for my first Persona to be the great thief, as since the moment my awakening I've come to learn of my greed, a Deadly Sin as it may be. But in my case, it's not greed for wealth or glory, but for the precious bonds between hearts, which I for too long closed myself off to, save for the bond I shared with Nunnally." He took Kallen's hand in one of his own, and then, glancing at Shirley, took hers in his other hand. He squeezed both of them tightly.

"Kallen, I want you," he told her, once more locking his eyes on hers, now wide. "As my friend, as my lover, my sister in arms, my accomplice, in ways I'm yet to discover, and I want you to want me just as much. My crime is that my desires indeed don't stop there, and it's not only your heart I treasure this way."

He glanced over to Shirley before returning his gaze to Kallen. "Time and again, I tried to keep those desires in check, but first I was given permission to love both you and Shirley equally. Then, when the chance to love Leila in the same way was offered, my resolve unraveled once again. But worse, I remain unrepentant even as I admit to it. You, Shirley, and Leila. I may have not meant to take any of your hearts, but an oblivious thief is still a thief and I refuse to renounce any of them... unless any of you ask me to."

Kallen and Shirley stared at him for several moments, as if taken aback by the passion of his speech. Finally, Kallen was the first to speak.

"No matter how smart you are, you really are an idiot sometimes, Lelouch!" Kallen cried. But then her her expression softened, and became a heartfelt smile, even as tears rolled down her cheeks. "You can't steal what's freely given to you."

"I don't think I've ever heard you express your feelings quite like that before, Lulu..." Shirley said. She made a small giggle. "Then again, you've always been fond of dramatic speeches, haven't you?. I doubt you started the habit just to go along with being Zero. But I like you better this way, when you're so bold and passionate!"

"So? What do you say, Kallen?" Lelouch asked her.

Kallen took a deep breath. "I can tell that she's every bit as loyal to you as we are. And she's proved that she's willing to risk her life for ours as well. Even though she didn't succeed on her own, I'm still grateful that she tried to save me, back there in the Palace. I don't know her as well as I do Shirley... but I can empathize with her... in ways. A number of ways, actually..."

Lelouch nodded. Not only had Kallen also lost a family member to Britannia and the Metaverse, but she would be able to understand the strain of hiding her true self and living a double life far more intimately than Shirley, who had only recently been initiated to one, could. And in a way, Kallen and Leila were both daughters of two worlds, by culture rather than birth Leila's case, but with the effect that neither could ever fully belong in Britannian society.

"We might even become friends, outside of the Black Knights, now that we're at Ashford together..." Kallen continued. "So if Shirley's okay with it... and if you're not going to bring in any more girls any time soon..." Kallen seemed to force out her next words quickly. "I can accept that! As long as you aren't favoring her above us! Break that promise to me, Lelouch, and you're-"

"Hasn't that been our deal from the start?" Lelouch smirked, but he couldn't help but feel happy. "Don't worry Kallen. I have no intention of going back on my word. And I'll see to it that you two become fast friends."

xXx

Lelouch asked Kallen if she was able to accompany him to meet with Marrybell, per his original plan, but the matter turned out to be moot. Frowning, Kallen explained to him that while she would have been all too happy to accompany him, she had already made plans to meet with her old friends in the Resistance, back in Shinjuku. She had started to say that she could make new plans if he needed her to, but Lelouch knew that they were still important to her, and so he told her that it wasn't necessary for her to do so.

For a moment, Lelouch considered sending Sayoko to accompany Kallen for added protection, but he quickly ruled that out. Kallen was more than capable of protecting herself, and it would be a blow to her pride if he were to suggest otherwise. More to the point, Kallen would surely say that he was the one who needed protection, not her.

"Why don't you invite Leila?" Shirley asked with a smile. "That sounds like the sort of thing that she'd enjoy. I know it's for work rather than a proper date, but I'm sure it would mean a lot to her. Plus, it will give you a chance to tell her the good news."

That all fell into place... surprisingly well.

And so Lelouch went to meet up with Leila, sending her a message via his phone. A few minutes later, they too were meeting in what appeared to be an ordinary classroom, save that it was in the Metaverse.

"What is it, Lelouch?" she asked, her violet eyes looking up into his own.

"I was just talking to Kallen and Shirley," he said.

"What did they say?" He could tell that she knew what the conversation had been about. Then again, it could hardly be about anything else if he was bringing it up in that way.

"Kallen agreed that you could enter our... arrangement."

Leila's eyes lit up. "Do you mean it?!"

"Yes," Lelouch nodded. "I couldn't say it before, Leila. But... I love you, just like how I love Kallen and Shirley."

Leila's smile was one of pure joy. Taking a step forward, she slowly wrapped her arms around him, as if she was unsure if what was happening was real.

"So... this much would be okay now, right?", she asked softly.

"Yes..." Lelouch murmured, feeling himself growing quite warm, quite aware of a certain spectator in his psyche who was urging him onward. He wrapped his own arms around Leila, and held her close.

They stared into each other's eyes for several moments, an understanding passing between them.

Lelia raised herself up on her tiptoes. Lelouch bent his head down slightly.

"Je suis amoureuse de toi," Leila whispered with flawless French pronunciation.

The sound of the words was alluring on its own, and close as they were, Lelouch could tell that there was none of that cloying, fruity scent tainting her breath now. Her eyes were crystal clear, free of any drunken haze. She really did want this, and far more importantly, she was fully in her right mind.

And he wanted it too.

Their lips met, tentative at first. He was really kissing her this time. This was more than just a dream, and he no longer needed to feel guilty about his desires.

Like a dam breaking, any remaining tension gave way, and with some silent pointers from Lilim, his kiss with Leila deepened.

And while it was _far_ from the first thing that would have normally occurred to him, Lilim couldn't help but impishly point out that that kissing Leila so soon after Igor's warning against involving himself further with her was like, in the words of his more vulgar classmates, giving the Prison Master "the finger".

It was so immature of her.

"Or, to put it another way," Arsene growled within him, "the Nose can shove it."

 **A/N:**

 **It's been a crazy few weeks. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!**

 **This chapter took considerably longer than I originally anticipated. At first, I was going to include more of Lelouch's conversation with Marrybell in the chapter, but my beta correctly pointed out that a lot of that conversation was really too sensitive to be handled online, and that a face-to-face meeting would be better. So you'll get the rest of the story with Marrybell in the next chapter. Plus, the chapter was getting well over 13,000 words with the original draft of the full conversation with Marrybell included, so that probably would have been too much from a pacing perspective.**

 **As for Leila... It has always been planned in the story that she was an ex-Wild Card, or rather, that she had the potential to become one, albeit it was never realized. Not only is this an explanation for why she had the MetNav in the first place, but it's actually a mythology gag as well. In canon, Leila receives her Geass when she is very young, with the provision that if she does not use it by the time she reaches adulthood, it will disappear. Her Geass laid dormant for so long before it was finally used that it became a "Fragment of Geass". This led to the idea of Leila's potential as a Persona-user remaining dormant for many years, and her former Arcana, the Fool, fading away as she matured into the role of her new Arcana, the Priestess.**

 **Additionally, this is why Leila's mask in the Metaverse is styled as a butterfly mask, and why I have given her other butterfly imagery, such as her costume to the masquerade party. Butterflies are used in the Persona series to symbolize the collective unconscious, are more generally symbols of the soul, transformation, and the cycle of death and rebirth. Persona protagonists are usually visited by a shimmering blue butterfly, and for a time, Leila could have been one as well.**

 **As to the point about German heritage in the Britannian nobility, if you look at it, a number of them have German names. As noted "Breisgau" is a region of Germany. "Stadtfeld" is also a German name, meaning "city field", so although Kallen remains half-Britannian and half-Japanese, as in canon, it is likely that Kallen also has some German ancestry on her Britannian side, if one goes far back enough. As for 'Schneizel', I don't find any evidence for it as an actual German name, though there does seem to be a consensus that it's meant to sound German, and that Schneizel embodies certain traits stereotypically seen as German, so I went with that. Plus, the historical British monarchy has been German since George I in 1714, which predates certain established events in Code Geass' canonical timeline, such as Washington's Rebellion.**

 **All of this is to say that societal standards of beauty often originate from their upper classes. Racist as Britannia is, it seems likely that there is significant Germanic heritage among both the regular nobility and the Imperial Family, and this would color Britannian beauty standards accordingly. While they'd certainly waste no time oppressing any conquered peoples under the Numbers system, Germanic or not, it would make little sense for them to discriminate against a person simply for looking German - for if they were to do so, it would mean discriminating against themselves.**

 **Lastly, my beta brought up an interesting point, elaborating on the above. While Britannia's German influence and Social Darwinist policies may bring Hitler or the Nazis to mind, in-universe this comparison cannot be made, because (as far as we know), Hitler and the Nazis never existed within the world of Code Geass, or at least they never achieved significant power within Europia.**


End file.
